How Bush-leage can go from Surplus to Deficit Boggles the Mind! (1 Viewer)

[Billo_Really]

The alternate title of this thread could be:
"The Selling of Our Childrens Future to Pay for the Killing of Iraqi's"

The most obscene part of the current Administration is their fiscal irresponsibility. Which is a much bigger threat to this country than the phoney war on terror.

Un-Spin the Budget By Paul Krugman The New York Times
Monday 11 July 2005

And so it has turned out. President Bush has presided over the transformation of a budget surplus into a large deficit, which threatens the government's long-run solvency. The principal cause of that reversal was Mr. Bush's unprecedented decision to cut taxes, especially on the wealthiest Americans, while taking the nation into an expensive war

Where's the good news? Well, for the past four years actual tax receipts have consistently come in below expectations, so that the deficit is even bigger than one might have predicted given the administration's don't-tax-but-spend-anyway policies. Recent tax numbers, however, finally offer a positive surprise. The Congressional Budget Office suggests in its latest monthly budget review that the deficit in fiscal 2005 will be "significantly less than $350 billion, perhaps below $325 billion." [WooooooW] Last year the deficit was $412 billion. [Oh, yeah, what about Clinton? He's gotta play in all this. He's just gotta!]

Nooooope. This is all done, by George, on his watch. And the longer this illegal war goes on, the more generations of childrens' future are taken away.

Here's the link if anyone cares to read it.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071105O.shtml

 

[Stherngntlmn]

Pshh... "budget surplus" bwahahaha yeah a surplus if you add the entire general SSS fund into the budget...

Clinton never had a real surplus.. but you are right, Bush spends waaaay too much $$ and is gonna break the back of future generations with his spending if a lot of his programs don't get repealed in the next term.

 

[anomaly]

I don't think it boggles anyone's mind. Bush has increased spending, and yet has cut taxes, and, indeed, wants to make these tax cuts permanent. Is it any wonder the nation is in debt?

 

[Arthur Fonzarelli]

Table of National Debt for years 1993 - 2000

09/30/2000 - $5,674,178,209,886.86
09/30/1999 - $5,656,270,901,615.43
09/30/1998 - $5,526,193,008,897.62
09/30/1997 - $5,413,146,011,397.34
09/30/1996 - $5,224,810,939,135.73
09/29/1995 - $4,973,982,900,709.39
09/30/1994 - $4,692,749,910,013.32
09/30/1993 - $4,411,488,883,139.38

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdhisto4.htm

 

[Billo_Really]

Originally posted by Arthur Fonzarelli:
Table of National Debt for years 1993 - 2000

09/30/2000 - $5,674,178,209,886.86
09/30/1999 - $5,656,270,901,615.43
09/30/1998 - $5,526,193,008,897.62
09/30/1997 - $5,413,146,011,397.34
09/30/1996 - $5,224,810,939,135.73
09/29/1995 - $4,973,982,900,709.39
09/30/1994 - $4,692,749,910,013.32
09/30/1993 - $4,411,488,883,139.38

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdhisto4.htm

You make a good point. There should be some distinction between the actual deficit, and the budget deficit.

If I wanted to do some partisan flag waving (although I am not a Democrat)it would be like this:
The First Balanced Budget in a Generation and a Mainstream Tax Cut
Roughly $900 Billion in Net 10 Year Deficit Savings.
First Balanced Budget since 1969.
Largest Investment in Higher Education Since the G.I. Bill in 1945:
$1,500 HOPE Scholarship to Help Make Two Years of College Universally Available.
20% Tuition Tax Credit for College Juniors, Seniors, Graduate Students and Working Americans pursuing Lifelong Learning to upgrade their skills.
Single Largest Investment in Health Care for Children Since 1965.
A $500 Per Child Tax Credit for Approximately 27 Million Families.
Critical Long-Term Entitlement Reforms -- Extends Solvency of Medicare trust Fund for at Least a Decade.
Brownfields and Empowerment Zones Tax Incentives to Revitalize Our Nation's Distressed Areas.
A $ 3 Billion Welfare-to-Work Jobs Initiative Targeted to High Poverty Areas.

Treats Legal Immigrants Fairly -- Restores Health and Disability Benefits.

 

[Stherngntlmn]

if you overlook perjury, neutering the military, bending over for the UN, and selling his soul to the chinese. Clinton wasn't a half bad president.

 

[Billo_Really]

Originally posted by Stherngntlmn:
if you overlook perjury, neutering the military, bending over for the UN, and selling his soul to the chinese. Clinton wasn't a half bad president.

Are you saying Clinton is guilty of all the above?

 

[Stherngntlmn]

Are you saying Clinton is guilty of all the above?

no doubt in my mind that he is

 

[liminal]

I love how Republicans feign moral indignation at Clinton's lying about his affairs and then:

1. Claim a connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda
2. Don't seem to mind the White House Spokesman directly lying about Karl Rove's involvement in the CIA leak.
3. 'Cook the books' (read: lie) about Iraq's weapons of mass destructions
4. See no hypocrisy in George W. Bush's drug use and the execution of people in his home state of Texas for using the exact same drugs.
5. Not be concerned with Bush's refusual to come clean about his military (national air guard, not that he showed up) service
6. Do I need to go on? No-bid contracts to Halliburton and it's various subsidiaries, oil executives working in the white house and rewording reports about global warming and then leaving to go work for the oil company when people start to ask questions...

 

[donkeykong]

Not a peep out of the bush-leagues. What a surprise.

 

[Nemo]

The problem is that we can’t see. The current deficit began with Ronald Reagan. Reagan had Alzheimer's disease (a form of dementia in Republican politicians caused by eating too many jellybeans), which precluded him from seeing the deficit. Reagan’s Republican followers couldn't see the deficit because they didn’t want to see it (i.e., if it didn't fit within the “Trickle-Down” doctrine, it wasn't true); and, for them, seeing was not believing. Eventually, the deficit became so large that no one could see it, it virtually disappeared. This economic dyslexia continued until Bill Clinton was elected and pointed out that we were up to our eyeballs in debt. This made Republicans unhappy, who blamed it all on him; but at least Clinton succeeded in reversing the trend. Now, history is repeating itself; but we’re still in denial, because we just can’t see. President Bush says we all have to have faith. Things are really getting better - you’ll see.

 

[Nemo]

The problem is we can’t see. The current deficit began with Ronald Reagan. Reagan had Alzheimer's disease (a form of dementia in Republican politicians caused by eating too many jellybeans), which precluded him from seeing the deficit. Reagan’s Republican followers couldn't see the deficit because they didn’t want to see it (i.e., if it didn't fit within the “Trickle-Down” doctrine, it wasn't true); and, for them, seeing was not believing. Eventually, the deficit became so large that no one could see it, it virtually disappeared. This economic dyslexia continued until Bill Clinton was elected and pointed out that we were up to our eyeballs in debt. This made Republicans unhappy, who blamed it all on him; but at least Clinton succeeded in reversing the trend. Now, history is repeating itself; but we’re still in denial, because we just can’t see. President Bush says we all have to have faith. Things are really getting better - you’ll see.