Fuzzy Bush math

[unhappycamper]

Fuzzy Bush math
By Allan Sloan, Fortune senior editor-at-large
September 4 2007: 8:10 AM EDT


(Fortune Magazine) -- There will be lots of celebrating in Washington next month when the Treasury announces that the federal budget deficit for fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30, will have dropped to a mere $158 billion, give or take a few bucks.

That will be $90 billion below the reported 2006 deficit, and will be toasted by the White House and Treasury as a great accomplishment.

There's another $7 billion of "real" deficit that I can't account for, because these numbers total $441 billion and Table 1-7 shows an increase in "gross federal debt" of $448 billion for 2007. Let's just call it a rounding error.

But I have a nasty little secret for you, folks. If you use realistic numbers rather than what I call WAAP -- Washington Accepted Accounting Principles -- the real federal deficit for the current fiscal year is more than 2 1/2 times the stated deficit.

Why am I inflicting this information on you? Because there's been so much joyous noise about the budget emanating from Washington, despite the subprime mess and market meltdowns (which don't bode particularly well for future tax collections), that my natural contrarianism makes me feel like bombing the buzz machine.


Rest of article at: http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/31/magazines/fortune/deficit_sloan.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007090408

[lonestarnot]

1. Didn't think the bushitler knew math. Just bike falling off 101 and

the art of shrub destruction 101, the art of theft, murder and deceit.

[rurallib]

2. Is the money spent on Afghanistan and Iraq in these numbers?

I was always under the impression it was not, which makes it even worse.
Nice to know that Social Security has been spent.