CBO ready to announce great news on the deficit...

[kentuck]

The budget deficit has shrunk to about 2% of the GDP - which is average for the last several Administrations. The present August numbers will indicate the deficits has dropped to about $260 billion dollars, a surprising but welcome announcement for the Republicans running for election in a couple of months. Great news for the Republicans! :sarcasm:

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Oh, great news

and how much is that national debt again? $8 trillion? $9 trillion?

These folk have a weird idea of good news.

[Pharaoh]

2. And If you believe that

I have some great ocean front property for you in South Dakota :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[NC_Nurse]

3. Isn't that excluding

Iraq War funding?

[originalpckelly]

4. Last time I heard the real deficit was a few trillion, not billion...

That is if you use the standard accounting procedures of a normal company (you know the kind that if you violate you go behind bars.)

[reichstag911]

5. That's the debt, not the deficit.

The debt is cumulative; the deficit is current. While it is certain that the books are being more aggressively cooked under this administration than any previous one, none of them have used GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) in their accounting.

[Yupster]

7. If the government had to use pension funding standards

for social security funding they'd be truly screwed.

The biggest problem the US budget has isn't the defecit or the debt, but the committed liabilities that will come due in the next 20 years or so, mostly pensions for government workers and us all.

Towns and cities are even more overcommitted than the federal government. It will eventually be a big deal when a county government somewhere announces that in 10 years its entire county budget will be needed to fund polie and fire pensions and health insurance for former employees.

That next crisis may be when we finally get national healthcare.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. I Doubt This Number

Let me rephrase that. I don't believe this number at all. The nominal GDP has not grown by enough to offset the increase in spending through added revenue. There has to be IOU money that is being accounted in a different way to make this number look a little better.
The Professor