Under Democrats US Deficit is down 8%

Originally posted by ararisq
reply to post by abecedarian

 

This is ludicrous. This is a good sign? They spent money like drunken sailors on leave last year and they've done the same thing this year - the expenditures they put us on the hook for this year didn't roll up on us in the first half - thats all. An 8% improvement - my ass. This is also the deficit (the difference between spend vs intake). This is not the debt - that thing is still climbing up in to outer space. This is an insane article.

This is a knee-jerk response.

Yes, debt is bad. We all know that. But unless we reduce the deficit and get a surplus, we will never have any extra money to pay off the debt. If you have credit card debt, you're not going to pay more than minimum until your groceries, mortgage, car payment, etc is paid off. It's the same with the US government, so of course the deficit reducing is a great thing. In fact, it is obviously one of the first steps towards paying off this massive debt.

Originally posted by EsSeeEye


"Budget surplus" is just another way of saying they're keeping our money for future pet projects. Why don't we ever get our tax dollars back during a surplus? If our money is being hoarded by the government as a surplus, why is that a good thing?

Cause they use that money to pay off the debt...

Originally posted by spacekc929

Originally posted by ararisq
reply to post by abecedarian

 

This is ludicrous. This is a good sign? They spent money like drunken sailors on leave last year and they've done the same thing this year - the expenditures they put us on the hook for this year didn't roll up on us in the first half - thats all. An 8% improvement - my ass. This is also the deficit (the difference between spend vs intake). This is not the debt - that thing is still climbing up in to outer space. This is an insane article.

This is a knee-jerk response.

Yes, debt is bad. We all know that. But unless we reduce the deficit and get a surplus, we will never have any extra money to pay off the debt. If you have credit card debt, you're not going to pay more than minimum until your groceries, mortgage, car payment, etc is paid off. It's the same with the US government, so of course the deficit reducing is a great thing. In fact, it is obviously one of the first steps towards paying off this massive debt.

Maybe the Gov can call up one of those "get your credit obligations reduced to pennies on the dollar" programs. They all promise to restructure your debt, contact your creditors and find some way to get you above board in just a few years.

I am a bit skeptical on the following:

Citing senior Obama administration officials....

As I would if it was a Bush, Clinton, etc. official making the claim.

This is straight out of the horses mouth proclaiming all of a sudden that the deficit is down? It is all based on anonymity because the official report is not out yet.....hardly disguised as something to help out the party in the Mid-Terms.

I also looked for the cited article at the Washington Post....

...the Washington Post said in an article posted on its website...

Where?
I searched the following at the Washington Post: 2010, budget deficit, 8%......and did not see the cited article on their webpage as Reuters claims.

I found this, which is where the information was derived from....
Budget Deficit

According by this article we see that we are only seeing a cut in the budget, not the nations debt. Big difference. There is no 8% deficit reduction, except that the government is spending $70 Billion less than last year, on paper.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting that the deficit for this budget year will total $1.3 trillion, about $70 billion lower than last year.

So again, seems like a fluff piece from the White House to ease some of the worries American's have. Nothing more than election time propaganda in my mind.

That in mind, one must know how the government operates and how it figures its budget out.

Lets say there are three departments: Education, Military and Administrative. Each one is alloted $100 for the year, making the total budget $300. At the end of the year, they each propose they need more money. So now they are budgeted to receive $200/year, totaling a budget of $600.

Now, through revisions and less spending, each department only spends in total $552....and bam! 8% deficit budget cut.

While it is a good thing the government is spending less, there still is an overall increase each year, as that is the nature of government.