Patterico's Pontifications

10/8/2009

Revenues Down, Deficit Up = Tax + Spend

Filed under: Economics,Government,Politics — DRJ @ 9:34 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

By now, most people have seen this chart comparing the Bush and Obama deficits:

The figures may have to be revised given the dismal revenues and declining trend in this Congressional Budget Office chart of Federal Revenues by Fiscal Year (in trillions of dollars):

With an uncertain economy and unemployment nearing 10%, Democratic leaders are considering more spending — but don’t call it a stimulus:

“Confronted with big job losses and no sign the U.S. economy is ready to stand on its own, Democrats are working on a growing list of relief efforts, leaving for later how to pay for them, or whether even to bother.

Proposals include extending and perhaps expanding a popular tax credit for first-time home buyers, and creating a new credit for companies that add jobs. Taken together, the proposals look a lot like another economic stimulus package, though congressional leaders don’t want to call it that.”

They propose to expand federal unemployment and payroll taxes in order to fund additional benefits and short-term relief packages. Once again, Democrats are living up to their tax-and-spend reputation.

— DRJ

20 Responses to “Revenues Down, Deficit Up = Tax + Spend”

  1. Well, one saving grace is that whereas CBO was estimating the ’09 deficit at 1.85-TRILLION-DOLLARS; it came in at the paltry sum of 1.4-TRILLION-DOLLARS.
    Of course the revenue collected fell too.
    What will ’10 bring: Who knows, they haven’t even passed any of the appropriations bills yet.

    AD - RtR/OS! (814db9)

  2. Good point, AD. Let’s go spend that 400 Billion!

    DRJ (7fbae6)

  3. i say we go for double or nothing!

    what do we have to lose? besides, the First Klingon needs new shoes…… %-)

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  4. The lowest projected deficit for Barcky is higher than Bush’s highest deficit, which we all know was evil and unjust and caused our financial meltdown.

    Do these projections include BarckyCare?

    JD (f1bef5)

  5. I think they’ve already included it in “paying” for Comprehensive Health-Care Reform.

    AD - RtR/OS! (814db9)

  6. BarckyCare will be DEFICIT NEUTRAL when it starts, hahahahahaha!

    Sometimes I crack myself up!

    daleyrocks (718861)

  7. fortunately for you, that will be covered under BarckyCare….

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  8. By now most people know that chart is a fraud, because Bush ran the Iraq and Afghanistan wars off budget, but Obama has not. Apples and oranges. It’s also a fraud, by the way, in that the 2000 surplus is credited to Bush but belongs more properly to Clinton. (Bush has 9 years in the chart. Count ’em.)

    Here’s how good Bush’s prognostications were. From the 2002 SOTU address.

    To achieve these great national objectives — to win the war, protect the homeland and revitalize our economy — our budget will run a deficit that will be small and short term so long as Congress restrains spending and acts in a fiscally responsible way.

    Andrew J. Lazarus (a44e10)

  9. AJL – The war spending was approved by Congress outside the normal budget process, but the costs are included in the final deficit numbers. Most people understand that. Nice try.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  10. #8: i like how you ignored the operative phrase that points out where the blame truly lies:

    “…so long as Congress restrains spending and acts in a fiscally responsible way.”

    nice, but predictable, try. we have some lovely parting gifts for you backstage….

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  11. PS for #8: the irony of using the NYT to support the claim that anything is a fraud is gut splitting.

    have you ever considered a career in comedy?

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  12. Fraud apparently means asspulls by AJL.

    JD (0d395c)

  13. Dumberer than a sack of Andrews.

    John Hitchcock (3fd153)

  14. AJL – See that spike in the deficit in ’08. That was the first budget passed by Pelosi’s congress. That was also when fuel prices started spiking, (after Pelosi told us, “Gas won’t be two dollars a gallon when I’m Speaker of the House!!) Gas went to five dollars a gallon in parts of the country. Thanks, Nancy!

    And as already pointed out to your ignorant self this chart includes every penny spent by the Federal govenment, including every penny spent on the wars that were approved by the overwhelming vote of the Congress of the US, both parties.

    Take your pathetic troll behaviour off and do your little MMM MM MMM, Obama chant somewhere else.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  15. And who says that “1.4 trillion” number isn’t excluding something. Like, say, the unspent stimulus money, or TARP funds.

    Kevin Murphy (3c3db0)

  16. You know, you would think the absurd nine years of Bush would have made even the most hardened conservative snarkster pause. But you would be wrong. The on-budget deficit for 2008 was $638 billion.

    Any comments on Bush’s budgeting abilities? You’ve got his SOTU quote right there. How would you describe his budgets? Borrow and spend, perhaps?

    Yawn.

    Andrew J. Lazarus (8d2c16)

  17. AJL – So the best possible light you can throw on this is that Obama is twice as bad as Bush was at his worst?

    Please examine that top graph. The years ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07. That is what we like to call a trend. Then notice ’08, which you point out as a disaster. What changed in Washington that could have caused that AJL? When was that budget debated and voted on? Could it have been after January of 2007?

    Yawn.

    Have Blue (854a6e)

  18. nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/09/business/economy/20090610-leonhardt-graphic.html

    That’s the chart you want to look at. How we got where we are today. A good discussion of the issues here.

    tnr.com/article/how-i-became-keynesian

    bored again (d80b5a)

  19. Another link spam from the hating hater, ba.

    Good point, haveblue. On their best day, they are twice as bad as Bush, on his worst day. Ouch.

    JD (18325d)

  20. And Obama and the Dems are working on a bill to extend the CRA!! What could go wrong?

    CRA to Expand.

    Patricia (c95a48)


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