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U.S. Deficit Decline to 2.8% of GDP Is Unprecedented Turn

Tettsuo

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U.S. Deficit Decline to 2.8% of GDP Is Unprecedented Turn - Bloomberg

Robust economic growth has helped push the U.S.budget deficit down to the lowest level since 2008, marking the sharpest turnaround in the government’s fiscal position in at least 46 years.The shortfall of $483.4 billion in the 12 months ended Sept. 30 was 2.8 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product of $17.2 trillion over the same period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg using Commerce Department figures. The figure peaked at 10.1 percent of GDP in December 2009.


OMG, we need to stop Obama from spending us into ruin!!

Oh, wait.... the deficit is SHRINKING? Whodathunkit! I guess he's NOT the spender in chief as he's been labeled by the consistent and reliable deficit increasing Republicans.
 
Using debt/deficit to GDP ratio is a cool statistic but the GDP is not federal revenue, only about 20% of GDP is. We are also (artificially?) enjoying the lowest interest rate in a very long time and far below its historical average. To assert that federal spending decreases, and not federal revenue increases, are causing this is also dishonest.

Politicians do not enjoy spending funds on debt payments as it produces no photo ops and no grateful voters. Yet without quick and significant action on the federal budget, as soon as interest rates begin to rise toward normal the burden of the national debt on the federal budget will become heavy indeed. Something will have to give.

Forget Debt As A Percent Of GDP, It's Really Much Worse - Forbes
 
He thinks it's okay to have annual deficits when you have an $18,000,000,000,000 debt.
 
U.S. Deficit Decline to 2.8% of GDP Is Unprecedented Turn - Bloomberg



OMG, we need to stop Obama from spending us into ruin!!

Oh, wait.... the deficit is SHRINKING? Whodathunkit! I guess he's NOT the spender in chief as he's been labeled by the consistent and reliable deficit increasing Republicans.[/FONT][/COLOR]

You might want to throw a little credit the way of the Republican controlled House which insisted on the complete implementation of the trillion dollar sequestration agreement that Obama and Democrats tried to renege on and for also insisting on the end to the payroll tax holiday and reining in unemployment insurance extensions that again Obama and Democrats wanted to further extend.

Just imagine, when the Republicans take control of the Senate and more Republican initiatives get to a vote on the Senate floor how much better the economic picture will get. And then, two years later, when the anchor in the White House is removed, it will be clear sailing again for the greatest economy in the world.
 
He thinks it's okay to have annual deficits when you have an $18,000,000,000,000 debt.

Yep. Celebrating an obese gent gaining weight at a lower rate is not exactly the same as saying that the diet is working well.
 
Using debt/deficit to GDP ratio is a cool statistic but the GDP is not federal revenue, only about 20% of GDP is. We are also (artificially?) enjoying the lowest interest rate in a very long time and far below its historical average. To assert that federal spending decreases, and not federal revenue increases, are causing this is also dishonest.



Forget Debt As A Percent Of GDP, It's Really Much Worse - Forbes

Good thing I didn't assert that.

Facts are fact. Deficit is decreasing. Obama is not and has not spent the US into ruin. He did indeed reduce the deficit. If we can eliminate the deficit, we can start attack the debt.

First thing is first... address the deficit and then we can address the debt.
 
Good thing I didn't assert that.

Facts are fact. Deficit is decreasing. Obama is not and has not spent the US into ruin. He did indeed reduce the deficit. If we can eliminate the deficit, we can start attack the debt.

First thing is first... address the deficit and then we can address the debt.

Lower spending that could have happened all along, but NOOOOOOOOO can't have that. Reid wouldn't allow it.
 
Good thing I didn't assert that.

Facts are fact. Deficit is decreasing. Obama is not and has not spent the US into ruin. He did indeed reduce the deficit. If we can eliminate the deficit, we can start attack the debt.

First thing is first... address the deficit and then we can address the debt.

It was not passing any "Obama budget" that decreased the deficit but the insistence by (mostly republicant) congress critters that we not spend as much as more Obama wanted to. We could cut "discretionary" federal spending in half and still have a deficit. As I noted, the deficit is still big and will be even bigger if (when?) interest rates return to normal. What we have done is to simply slow the growth of federal spending while enjoying a federal revenue increase from modest GDP growth.
 
total national debt exceeds GDP.
 
Lower spending that could have happened all along, but NOOOOOOOOO can't have that. Reid wouldn't allow it.

LOL... when do so called Conservative EVER reduce spending? When have they EVER reduced the deficit?!

Sorry, but Conservative do not have a leg to stand on when discussing reducing the deficit or the debt. They've done neither when in power.
 
It was not passing any "Obama budget" that decreased the deficit but the insistence by (mostly republicant) congress critters that we not spend as much as more Obama wanted to. We could cut "discretionary" federal spending in half and still have a deficit. As I noted, the deficit is still big and will be even bigger if (when?) interest rates return to normal. What we have done is to simply slow the growth of federal spending while enjoying a federal revenue increase from modest GDP growth.
How many threads have there been on this site where liberals proclaim that deficits don't matter; that deficits are good; that Obamas spending spree saved us from global ruin? Now its Obama the deficit hawk that we should all kneel before in wonder. The ability of the liberal mind to contradict itself is truly amazing
 
LOL... when do so called Conservative EVER reduce spending? When have they EVER reduced the deficit?!

Sorry, but Conservative do not have a leg to stand on when discussing reducing the deficit or the debt. They've done neither when in power.

When has Reid allowed a vote on a spending bill?
 
LOL... when do so called Conservative EVER reduce spending? When have they EVER reduced the deficit?!

Sorry, but Conservative do not have a leg to stand on when discussing reducing the deficit or the debt. They've done neither when in power.
The 1990's
 
What specific spending reductions has Obama implemented that brought about this shrinking deficit?

No specific spending reductions is the cause of our shrinking deficit. Growth is the cause.
 
No specific spending reductions is the cause of our shrinking deficit. Growth is the cause.

a republican controlled house has limited the democrats ability to increase spending since 2011.
 
How many threads have there been on this site where liberals proclaim that deficits don't matter; that deficits are good; that Obamas spending spree saved us from global ruin? Now its Obama the deficit hawk that we should all kneel before in wonder. The ability of the liberal mind to contradict itself is truly amazing

Obamabot logic 101: If it is good news then Obama gets the (full?) credit, if it is bad news then Obama had no control over that and either Bush policy, the republicant congress critters or a conspiracy of racists, TP zealots and misogynists made it happen.
 
What specific spending reductions has Obama implemented that brought about this shrinking deficit?

1. It's not due to spending reductions, but to an improvement in the economy.
2. It's not the president, but the Congress, that controls spending.


None of this, not the giant debt, not the decrease in deficit spending, not the economic turn around, none of it is due to the current POTUS. The president is not in charge of the economy.

So, when things go bad, as they did in 2008, that wasn't the fault of the Bush administration.
When the economy started to come out of the tailspin created by OPEC, it was not due to there being a Republican in the WH at the time.

And the country coming out of the deepest recession since the great depression is not due to the occupant of the WH.
 
He thinks it's okay to have annual deficits when you have an $18,000,000,000,000 debt.

You think posting $18,000,000,000,000 means something. Go figure!
 
You might want to throw a little credit the way of the Republican controlled House which insisted on the complete implementation of the trillion dollar sequestration agreement that Obama and Democrats tried to renege on and for also insisting on the end to the payroll tax holiday and reining in unemployment insurance extensions that again Obama and Democrats wanted to further extend.

Just imagine, when the Republicans take control of the Senate and more Republican initiatives get to a vote on the Senate floor how much better the economic picture will get. And then, two years later, when the anchor in the White House is removed, it will be clear sailing again for the greatest economy in the world.

Just so it's clear. The majority of credit for deficit reduction should go to the much improved economy. On two fronts, it has boosted tax revenue while lowering automatic stabilization outlays. Giving any credit to the "Republican controlled House" goes way beyond using your imagination.
 
1. It's not due to spending reductions, but to an improvement in the economy.
2. It's not the president, but the Congress, that controls spending.


None of this, not the giant debt, not the decrease in deficit spending, not the economic turn around, none of it is due to the current POTUS. The president is not in charge of the economy.

So, when things go bad, as they did in 2008, that wasn't the fault of the Bush administration.
When the economy started to come out of the tailspin created by OPEC, it was not due to there being a Republican in the WH at the time.

And the country coming out of the deepest recession since the great depression is not due to the occupant of the WH.

They can't have it both ways. They can't claim that Obama is a plague on deficit reduction then not credit him for actually reducing the deficit.
 
Oh, wait.... the deficit is SHRINKING?

It is, but then again it's a matter of how one decides to view it and what they're arbitrarily comparing it too.

Say I go play craps on my first day in Vegas and lose $1000

Over the next few days going between slots and poker and blackjack I make $800

I could go "WOOOHOO! I've made $800" if I'm speaking just of those past few days other than the first. Or I could go "Damn, I'm still down $200".

It's a matter of perspective.

The Budget Deficit in 2008 was $458 Billion.

The Budget Deficit in 2009, largely on the back of Stimulus passed by the Democratic Congress and backed by both Bush (in 2008) and Obama (in 2009), balooned up to $1.4 Trillion

Over the next 5 years we're down to $483 Billion....still worse than before the fiscal crisis, still very far off the low point ($157B) or the average ($442B) of the previous administration. The $442 average deficit of the previous administration is less than half of the average thus far under this administration, which is $968 billion. Mind you, this is with assigning all of the 2009 deficit to George Bush.

So yes, government deficits* have "improved" over the past 5 years...when compared to the extremely artificially inflated numbers caused by the realities of the financial crisis. However, said improvement has been slow going and is still, even 5 years later, no where close to what we were looking at prior to 2008.

I'd also note that the projected deficit for next year is actually slated to increase by nearly $100 billion, not continue to fall. Giving rise to the notion that while Obama has been cutting the deficit from the artifically inflated highs of the peak of the crisis, there's absolutely no intention nor expectation to see them actually return to the routine levels of that dominated the 90's and 00's. Prior the 20 some odd years before 2008 it was rare to see a deficit over $400 billion, with most hovering around the $100B to $200B range, give or take a bit here or there.

You want to cheer a $200 loss at the table because it's not $1000. I consider such a thing a good thing, but hardly something to get the pom pom's out over.

* Also note, having smaller deficits does not inherently indicate smaller spending. Deficits are a product of revenue brought in and expenditures going out.
 
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Good thing I didn't assert that.

Facts are fact. Deficit is decreasing. Obama is not and has not spent the US into ruin. He did indeed reduce the deficit. If we can eliminate the deficit, we can start attack the debt.

First thing is first... address the deficit and then we can address the debt.

if you raise taxes that much and i would hope the number would change.

if only he had not increased spending a trillion perhaps the economy might have grown and pushed that number the easy way.
 
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