MetaFilter posts tagged with deficit

The Audacity of Dope

Chinese Jet Pilot — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:26:03 -0800

With its $41 billion deficit spiraling out of control and federal judges ordering its prisoners released to relieve overcrowding, can legal marijuana save California?

The U.S. takes the crown.

chef_boyardee — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:12:28 -0800

Where do you find the U.S. in this 2006 CIA World Factbook list? Yep. It's ok... things are cool because of all those lucrative foreign investments like T-bills. Trouble is, oil and euros are looking a lot better. Is this a recipe for a collapse?

Graphs of US federal revenue and spending

russilwvong — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:58:17 -0800

Mark Wieczorek has put together some graphs of US federal revenue and spending and the US trade deficit, with a minimum of editorializing. They're shown using nominal dollars, real (inflation-adjusted) dollars, and as a percentage of GDP.

Bye Bye Funding.

papakwanz — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 08:56:16 -0800

CNN reports that the House passed HR 4241 this morning by a narrow vote almost entirely along party lines. This is part of the Republican Party's Operation Offset (previously discussed here) designed to cut spending to counter the deficit, growing by leaps and bounds because of Iraq & Katrina (among other things). Now they'll have to work to reconcile it with the Senate version, SR 1932 (voting record here). You may want to Write your representative to let them know how you feel. You might also want to express your displeasure to the two Dems who didn't vote, considering the bill passed by a margin of 2. [Budget Filter]

An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave-driver

lalochezia — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:25:08 -0800

Still Broke? Things getting worse? Well you should follow your own advice! Continued from.

Katrina Ushers in Return of Big Government

Postroad — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 14:10:25 -0800

Katrina Ushers in Return of Big Government We have a larger govt now (people working for the govt) than we have ever had. We have now the Patriot Act, overseeing much of our activities. We have intelligence agencies doing lord knows what domestically, and security checks etc. Now we learn that Big govt is back? Where had it been before the storm?

Da Deficit

Smedleyman — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 20:32:30 -0800

How much? (sun times link) So the story is we're going to have an estimated $427 billion shortfall. So what does that mean? According to this guy the deficit is more of a metaphor than something real. According to newhouse news service the deficit gets added to the national debt (and is terrifying). According to this guy the deficit is not a well defined concept Will it stimulate the economy? Increase taxes? It's too complex for me even though it's in the news a lot. $7.9 trillion in debt doesn't sound good though... I think I'll just keep blaming this guy.

Currency Events

alms — Thu, 18 Nov 2004 12:32:10 -0800

Will Currency Wars Effect You? Oldman gives a quick run-through of the geopolitics of America's budget deficit, with some likely scenarios for the next 2-5 years.

Depressing Times we live in.

psychotic_venom — Tue, 16 Mar 2004 12:01:14 -0800

This is a very depressing time to exist, it seems. Watching the country you love (or hate) slowly disintegrate makes me wonder about how it all felt before.

The phrase ''Banana Republican'' comes to mind

y2karl — Thu, 08 Jan 2004 11:20:26 -0800

I.M.F. Report Says U.S. Deficits Threaten World Economy
With its rising budget deficit and ballooning trade imbalance, the United States is running up a foreign debt of such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund. Prepared by a team of I.M.F. economists, the report sounded a loud alarm about the shaky fiscal foundation of the United States, questioning the wisdom of the Bush administration's tax cuts and warning that large budget deficits pose "significant risks" not just for the United States but for the rest of the world. The report warns that the United States' net financial obligations to the rest of the world could be equal to 40 percent of its total economy within a few years--"an unprecedented level of external debt for a large industrial country," according to the fund, that could play havoc with the value of the dollar and international exchange rates.
From The Brookings Institute: Sustained Budget Deficits: Longer-Run U.S. Economic Performance and the Risk of Financial and Fiscal Disarray (Full Report PDF)

A flood of red ink

y2karl — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 22:49:40 -0800

A flood of red ink This time the turnaround will be much tougher. There will be no “peace dividend” from the end of the cold war (indeed, the pressure on military spending may continue to increase). America is unlikely to see another stockmarket bubble, with its surge in tax revenues. As baby-boomers retire, the pressure from entitlement spending will be more acute. Set against this background, the path back to a sustainable fiscal policy will be extremely painful, even without any dramatic fiscal crisis. Long after Dubya is back on his ranch, Americans will be trying to recover from the mess he created.

Deficit, anyone?

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 15 Jul 2003 20:25:52 -0800

Is the budget deficit going to be the other shoe that drops on the Bush administration? In the OMB's mid-session review [pdf], it admits the federal budget deficit would balloon to a record $455 billion this fiscal year after absorbing immediate costs from the war in Iraq, and then climb $20 billion higher in 2004. That's a 50% increase since the administration's last forecast five months ago. At least a few economists think even that number is underestimated. To top it off, the consequences of an increasingly large deficit and accompanying tax cuts are being passed on to the states. How's that for a neat twist on federalism?

Mister, that sure is one big baby...

troutfishing — Thu, 12 Jun 2003 10:59:07 -0800

Drowning the government in a bathtub - "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Thus spoke Grover Norquist, of Americans for Tax Reform. "The lunatics are now in charge of the asylum", quipped the conservative UK Financial Times. Hardly, says Paul Krugman. The strategy?: "Instead of challenging popular liberal programs directly, the Republicans are creating fiscal conditions that make those programs unsustainable." [lead post, Am. Prospect]. In other words, the 400 billion dollar deficit, coupled with the Bush tax cuts, is designed to shift the obligations of the Fed onto the States and, later, to cause a fiscal train wreck after Bush is out of office.

Political Fratricide

hairyeyeball — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 23:38:59 -0800

Political Fratricide: The GOP is reportedly [+] proposing $15 billion of cuts — or is it $25? — in veterans' benefits between now and 2007, and groups like the Veterans Against the Iraq War are hopping mad. Hell, I imagine the pro-war wing is pretty peeved, too. It's part of a plan with delusions of grandeur to deliver massive tax cuts AND kill the deficit ... you know, the one that did not exist before W was elected, as I understand it ... in six years. The original tip is from Stand Down. The actual status of the cuts is nebulous at this point, however, with the SF Chron reporting that they will likely fail in the Senate as the tax cut is halved and others reporting that the die is not yet cast. The House budget resolution, for metafilter accountants who like these things, is here.

hincandenza — Mon, 13 May 2002 00:28:01 -0800

"Only in the case of war, a recession, or a national emergency", Bush promised during his 2000 campaign, would he ever enter deficit spending. He now repeatedly and rather mordidly jokes that he never imagined that he'd hit the "trifecta" by getting all three- perhaps to explain why we are now experiencing a $100 billion dollar deficit this year. One tiny problem: Bush never made this supposed campaign promise despite frequently claiming just such as thing, as Jonathan Chait of TNR notes in his recent column. These "special conditions" for deficit spending and depleting the Social Security surplus were spun out of thin air just last summer, and modified post- 9/11, as a necessary escape clause when the budget crunch hit.

mattpusateri — Wed, 28 Nov 2001 13:08:44 -0800

White House predicts budget deficits until 2005. Uh... cause of the war, not monster tax cuts to businesses and billionaires... yeah, that's the ticket!