To be fair, a large part of Clinton's "surplus" came from a surplus in SS revenue that was moved to the general fund.
Actually I didn't notice your post.
Lets see.
Hrm, your point does not address any raised in the article, so :shrug:
SEE: (p.3, Table 1). I just read that even without SS the Clinton budget would have reached 0.
http://www.kansascityfed.org/PUBLICAT/ECONREV/econrevarchive/1989/1q89garn.pdf
So it wasn't really a surplus.
You have to make up that spent revenue somewhere and at some time in the future.
Here is the quote.
Clinton's large budget surpluses also owe much to the Social Security tax on payrolls. Social Security taxes now bring in more than the cost of current benefits, and the "Social Security surplus" makes the total deficit or surplus figures look better than they would if Social Security wasn't counted. But even if we remove Social Security from the equation, there was a surplus of $1.9 billion in fiscal 1999 and $86.4 billion in fiscal 2000. So any way you count it, the federal budget was balanced and the deficit was erased, if only for a while.
FactCheck.org: During the Clinton administration was the federal budget balanced? Was the federal deficit erased?
theres too many loop holes in the tax code
There is a revenue and a spending problem
Fixing the spending problem can be largely done through cuts in defense spending, ending both wars, and letting the stimulus just end
Most businesses have moved over seas to save on labor cost
a MAJOR SHIFT in the culture i.e. willing to work for pennies
Why do you assume that Obama has any influence over the legislature?
Its going to work
the point is still that we are missing a ton of revenue because of the tax cuts
and thats fine. However, the article clearly states that revenues have dropped more than spending has gone up.
I will requote
One problem is that most of Bush's tax cuts, particularly the income tax cuts, were not actually in effect when we saw the largest decrease in revenue and your own source acknowledges the decrease must also considered in light of economic conditions. Given my first point it seems more appropriate to say that the decline in revenue was mostly driven by economic conditions.
Actually I didn't notice your post.
Lets see.
Hrm, your point does not address any raised in the article, so :shrug:
I never said that they didn't. For example, I am against the Iraq war and I believe the money we spent there was wasted. Both parties voted for it. However, since you have accused me of being partisan without actually examining my stance, there is no reason for me to even pay attention to that aspect of your argument. Going "its both parties fault and your too partisan to see that" to everyone seems pretty much to be a reflex for you. Try actually examining whats in front of you.
Over and above the spending, the point is still that we are missing a ton of revenue because of the tax cuts (which again both parties voted for which I will mention for your sake)
Mega...Ive stated several times that the reason I left the republican party is because of Bush's spending. I personally AGREE with us going to war...I dont think that is what put us into the economic nightmare we are in. I disagree very much with our postwar ops-I think that has contributed to the problem, as has Obama's "choice" to maintain whatever it is we are doing there. I dont think we should have had the tax cuts and spending increases...Ive always said that. I think ultimately the government should be mandated to be fiscally accountable for every dollar they spend. I think education spending is inane. Its poorly managed. I think medicare and medicaid spending is poorly managed. Across the board there are spending cuts that should be made and programs that should never have been instituted at a federal level in the first place. It cant be sustained. We have a 14.5 trillion dollar debt, 10% new unemployment claim rates (with who knows how high actual unemployment rates), the housing market is still in the toilet, foreign investors government our debt, and many other factors that PROVE we cant sustain the spending. We have partisan politicians squabbling over pennies and people taking sides over the politicians. If you can see anything redeemable in EITHER side, more power to you because I cant. The social spending cripples capable people and prevent resources from reaching people that are truly in need.
This problem we face will either have citizens demanding of their elected representatives REAL solutions, or will continue to be ignored by the same mindless partisan squabbles that enabled them to put us here in the first place. The article and thread are emblematic of the problem.
We have multiple problems and those problems are different types of problems, however, they are compounding to make the sum of the problems greater than the individual problems. We have a problem with our debt, that is fueled in part by our economy, in part by our spending, and in part by our tax structure. We have a bad economy, partially because of deregulation and malfeasence in the private sector, however, it is compounding other issues. Its like a horrible game of pick up sticks, where it seems like every stick will cause another stick to move. It seems overwhelming.
However, even though its one big mess, it does not (and should not) prevent us from looking at individual pieces of the mess and discussing those things individually, trying to find where we went wrong, and proposing a corrective action, which is what I am attempting to do with this thread. That combined with that fact that I am quite sure everyone wants a REAL solution, but we disagree what that real solution should be, leading to the gridlock. We all think our solution is the correct one, so simply going "we need real solutions" does not really cut it. All you are doing is pretending to be above the fray, so you don't get **** on you like the rest of us do when we discuss actual issues.
I am sorry you are fed up with the whole thing, however, going "Everyone sucks!" does nothing to help.
I agree, economic conditions have certainly had an effect in recent years.
So, yes it is a revenue problem, despite what so many here want to believe. Instead of gutting our society, like what paul ryan wants to do, we should just go back to our old tax rates, which would take care of most, if not all, of the problem.
Look back at what happened from 2001 to 2003. You saw unemployment jump from 4% to 6% together with a bear market in stocks. This had a cumulative effect on tax revenue. I think this destruction of wealth was the primary contributing factor to the decline in tax revenue as revenue afterwards grew to the point where 2001 spending levels would have put us in the black in 2007.
I am pretty sure a recently released CBO analysis has already considered this.
Did it include this?:
Even at the peak revenue levels under Clinton Obama's budgetary spending would still put us solidly in the red proportionately, which is not something you can even say of Bush's spending.
Even at the peak revenue levels under Clinton Obama's budgetary spending would still put us solidly in the red proportionately, which is not something you can even say of Bush's spending.
That graph tracks current revenue levels, not what the projection of what they would be if tax rates were different.
I am aware of that, but look at the revenue levels compared to before the Bush tax cuts and look at the expenses Obama has made so far. You would have to be deep in the kool-aid to think simply lifting the Bush tax cuts will have any serious impact without major cuts to Obama's spending.
Obama's 2009 economic stimulus, a favorite target of Republicans who blame Democrats for the mounting debt, has added $719 billion - 6 percent of the total shift, according to the new analysis of CBO data by the nonprofit Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative. All told, Obama-era choices account for about $1.7 trillion in new debt, according to a separate Washington Post analysis of CBO data over the past decade. Bush-era policies, meanwhile, account for more than $7 trillion and are a major contributor to the trillion-dollar annual budget deficits that are dominating the political debate.
So it wasn't really a surplus.
You have to make up that spent revenue somewhere and at some time in the future.
This thread belongs in the partisan politics forum.
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