what ya think? ======================== White House: Deficit Plummeting to $333B Wednesday July 13, 11:17 am ET By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer White House Projects Budget Deficit Will Plummet to $333 Billion; Bush Credits Economic Polices WASHINGTON (AP) -- Surging revenues and a steady economy have led the White House to project that this year's federal budget deficit will drop to $333 billion, nearly $100 billion below earlier estimates. "We're ahead of projections now," President Bush said Wednesday. Bush said the improving deficit picture vindicated his stewardship of the economy and budget. "These numbers indicate that we're going to cut the deficit in half faster than the year 2009 -- so long as Congress holds the line on spending," Bush said following a Cabinet meeting. Just last February, the White House predicted a $427 billion deficit for the budget year ending Sept. 30 and red ink totaling $1.1 trillion over five years. The five-year deficit improvement would total $326 billion. Last year's deficit of $412 billion was a record in dollar terms, though many previous deficits in the mid-1980s and early 1990s were larger when measured against the size of the economy. The new estimates reflect significant improvement in revenues, which are so far coming in at levels 15 percent higher than last year. "The nation's budget picture has improved dramatically," said the new White House report. "Due in large part to tax relief, the economy is strengthening and the growing economy is producing the tax receipts necessary to cut the deficit far faster than was initially predicted. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also sees improvement in the deficit. It said last week that the deficit for this year could dip below $325 billion. CBO's official update will be released next month. Despite the improvement, the deficit picture remains far worse than when Bush took office in 2001, when both White House and congressional forecasters projected cumulative surpluses of $5.6 trillion over the subsequent decade. Then, it forecast a surplus for this year of $269 billion. Those faulty estimates assumed the revenue boom fueled by the surging stock market and Internet-fueled worker productivity gains would continue. But that bubble burst and a recession and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist assaults adversely affected the books. In early 2004, Bush announced his goal was to cut the deficit in half in five years. Then, the White House forecast the deficit to be $521 billion for the 2004 budget year, setting the goal of $260 billion by 2009. The White House and most economists preach that the more relevant measure of the deficit is to weigh it against the size of the economy. Much of the growth in tax receipts seems to have come from relatively wealthy taxpayers since the biggest revenue increases have come from quarterly payments on capital gains and business income instead of from withholdings from wages. Now, the White House forecasts a $162 billion deficit for 2009, which would represent just more than 1 percent of gross domestic product. The improvement for that year would come, it says, despite a $22 billion cost foreseen for deficit-financed private Social Security accounts. The cost of the private accounts would reach $54 billion in 2010. CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former economist at the Bush White House, warns that it is too early to predict whether the improvements seen recently will be long lasting and that in any event, the looming retirement of the Baby Boom generation presents intractable long-term problems that can only be fixed by curbing the growth in government benefit programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Democrats -- even before the new numbers were released -- urged caution and warned that the long-term deficit picture is not as rosy as the White House projects since it leaves out the long-term costs of occupying Iraq and Afghanistan and relies on cuts in programs annually appropriated by Congress that may prove unrealistic. "We should not be lulled into complacency," said Rep. John M. Spratt Jr., D-S.C. "Over the last three years, the Bush administration has posted the three worst deficits in history and though the deficit for 2005 has improved, it remains among the largest on record." On the economy, the White House foresees a 3.6 percent real growth rate for this year, slowing to 3.4 percent next year.
i think that even if it Plummets to $333 Billion it still means that every 3 years we will pile up another trillion of debt. bush is the biggest spender in the history of america. he has never said no to any spending. he is a failure in that area. i regret to say i voted for him but what choice did we have.
ummm, this is good news. lemme ask you something. suppose your business spends 10,000 this month. is that bad?
Au contraire.... In America, elections always boil down to a choice between Giant Douche Bag and Turd Sandwich. They are the only ones who suck up enough to get that far along in politics...... South Park
gnome wrote... Au contraire.... In America, it always boils down to a choice between Giant Douche Bag and Turd Sandwich. They are the only ones who suck up enough to get that far ahead...... South Park ................................................................................. Bush´s greatest achievement was selling his interest in a baseball team to a trustee at the University of Austin in Texas while being Governor... His counterpart Cheney headed up another Texas company called Halliburton whose companies have billed over $6 billion for the Iraq war ..so far...Both of them skirted Vietnam...but enjoy heading up the US military... At 40...Bush got off alcohol.... How many people on ET have had to get off alcohol ..???? I´ll bet almost none.... You can bet your last dollar that both Bush and Cheney´s future net worth will be dramatically higher because of the Iraq war.... Hey...Kerry´s greatest achievement was latching on to that real ¨barker¨Heinz...oh I guess it wasn´t for the money...??? And CAFTA...Bush´s latest craze...look There is not a day that goes by that there are not sizeable demonstrations in Central America and the Dominican Republic....against having CAFTA.... These are the best citizenry of each country that hold the best jobs in these countries...What planet is Bush from ????? But don´t worry...Bush always has his trust accounts to fall back on...He´ll be ok... The fact that these kinds of people are in the highest public office is a disgusting insult to the people of the USA.......and to the rest of the world that they touch...
i think the longterm answer to that is unknown at this time. can a country expand its debt at 3-400 billion a year forever even if it has the reserve currency? it is a grand experiment that has never been tried before. i wish i knew the answer.