Budget deficit to hit $1.8 trillion this year

[TacticalPeek]

Source: AP

Budget deficit to hit $1.8 trillion this year

"The federal budget deficit for the current year will top $1.8 trillion under the latest estimates produced by congressional economists," the Associated Press reports, citing as its sources "Capitol Hill aides briefed on the figures." It says they "spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of public release of the figures later Friday."

...

President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last month.

The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget.

Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4% of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5% of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/03/64409359/1

[valerief]

1. Yeah, but a trillion isn't what it used to be. nt

[WriteDown]

2. With about 1.2T going to AIG nt.

[Xipe Totec]

3. A trillion here, a trillion there...

next thing you know, we're talking serious money...

[stillcool]

4. and so it begins...

welcome to the budget battle.

[SpiralHawk]

5. "Smirk. It's all Obama's fault. Smirk." - xCommander AWOL (R)

"And before it was all Obama's fault, it was the fault of The Clenis. Smirk."

- xCommander AWOL (R)

[Tempest]

6. Something to remember here

Obama is including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in his budgets, something Bush didn't do.

[humbled_opinion]

7. Although I understand your point.....

The fact that Obama is President means that those ill fought wars should be over quick, there should not be any money in the war planners chests it should all be cut.

[Tempest]

8. Obama made it clear during the campaign on the pullout

And it wasn't going to happen this year.

[humbled_opinion]

9. Yes but,

The war budget should not show the same spending year after year as his admin is planning in their defecit.... He promised an end and their should be a substantial drop off in the cost of the wars. Don't you agree?

[JCMach1]

11. Cutting the war isn't going to be enough... something will eventually have to be cut

I would love to see the military cut down to size. It is long overdue.

[Psephos]

12. If the entire defense budget were cancelled, that would still leave a $1.2 trillion deficit

The Iraq war to date has cost $750 billion since it started. In other words, about five months worth of this year's deficit alone.

When did progressives stop being concerned about budget deficits spiraling out of control?

This is beyond pathetic, and soon to be catastrophic.

[earthside]

14. Real Progressives Haven't ...

... stopped being concerned about budget deficits.

Budget deficits mean paying our taxes in the form of interest payments to the type of elitists that own and run Goldman Sachs or that run slave labor camps in China. The federal debt is an immoral transference of OUR spending to the next generation.

In my opinion, Obama has made a mistake in not proposing deep cuts in the military (there are tens upon tens of U.S. bases abroad that could be closed, for instance). He is not proposing to tax corporations more.

We need Obama to implement the ideas in David Korten's new book "Agenda for a New Economy."

That is probably our only hope.

[btwhiteh]

16. David Korten - Abolish the Fed, free the market, flat tax?

I agree that the Obama deficits are paid for by our children in T-bill interest. But doesn't David Korten say that the only good economy is a free economy? One that can self stabilize and over regulation leads to market bubbles?

[btwhiteh]

15. National Defense is one of the ONLY things the Fed is allowed to do.

I think we need to cut all non-constitutional spending. Keep one of the only things they're good at like national defense. There's been no successful attacks on the US but the bailouts have done squat.

[Baby Snooks]

10. So far this year....

And keep it mind that the federal government cooks its books which is why so many corporations use the federal accounting method - the actual deficit is probably about ten times what the COB says it is or about $10 trillion which is what most who can "add two and two and get four" estimate it is.

The government, and most corporations, adds two and two and gets either three or five. Usually the three represents the debt. Depends on whether they can manage to add two and two and get two.

Like Bernie Madoff, they just hope to catch up with themselves. Like Bernie Madoff they belong in prison.

Madame Speaker gleefully announced the bonuses paid for out of stimulus funds, aka the "bailout your favorite crooks" funds, will be taxed at 90% which sounds good until you realize that of every $1 million in taxpayer money the crooks in Congress stole from the taxpayers to give to the crooks on Wall Street the crooks still get to keep it all.

The Wall Street crooks get to keep $100,000 and the crooks in Congress get $900,000 back to waste on something else.

We have moved from "of the people, by the people, for the people" to "of the corporation, by the corporation,for the corporation" to "of the crooks, by the crooks, for the crooks."

And the biggest crooks are the crooks in Congress.

[Psephos]

13. You speak for me, too n/t

[btwhiteh]

17. It's Mob Rule!!!

Well, it's "mob rule"!!! We're gonna' need a bigger mob.

The Congress just passed a bill to tax a certain set of individuals by 90%. The Politburo is trying to decide how much people should make at their job. And Congress is looking to create legislation to break legal contractual obligations a company has with it's employees.

This is immoral, unconscionable, and dangerous. They have broken the trust with business, businessmen, and the American people. Congress has proven it will throw away the rights of individuals for political gain. This is not about the size of the bonuses, they are insignificant as pointed out by Baby Snooks. This is about distracting people from their incompetent (or maybe nefarious) bailout plans.

The good news is that politicians have a weakness. They have no core values but are swayed by the popular opinion of the day. Whew! I thought we were in trouble. We just need a bigger louder mob. So use your voices my friends. Call, fax, mail, blog, post, talk. Be silent no more and teach your children that this is their duty as citizens. Just like the the maintenance we need to do on our homes, our freedoms need to be maintained. The Constitution can not defend itself, referring to it or better yet taking it out and quoting it every once in a while keeps it clean and functional.

I hope the AIG execs have the patriotic spirit to stand up to the Thugs. I for one will donate to their legal defense fund. That's what I need to do...give my hard earned cash to a millionaire to protect his win fall profits. But it's not about them. It's about the government trampling peoples rights. In the same spirit a soldier will fight to protect the lives of war protesters, I support their right to make more money than me.

I wonder if the Supreme Court will be the sentry at the gate and protect our freedoms. *sigh*

[No Elephants]

18. You need to figure out what "mob rule" really means.

[No Elephants]

19. See posts 5 and 6. Also, there's a dfference between a budget and a budget

deficit, which difference the article obscures.

Bush got us here. Whatever our situation is at year end, I am confident it will be better than if Furious George were still in the Oval Office.