Budget deficit on track for six-year low

[n2doc]

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It was about a year ago when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) appeared on Fox News and told viewers that Congress should be “focused on trying to deal with the ultimate problem, which is this growing deficit.”

There were a couple of glaring problems with the comment. For one thing, to prioritize the deficit as the “ultimate problem” – as opposed to, say, creating jobs and reducing unemployment – is to have a fairly warped sense of urgent policy needs. For another, the deficit, in reality, is most certainly not “growing.”

The U.S. government ran a big surplus in April, thanks to a flood of tax payments that helped keep the budget on track for the lowest annual deficit in six years…. Through the first seven months of the 2014 budget year, which began Oct. 1, the deficit totals $306.4 billion. That’s down 37 percent from the same period last year.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting a deficit of $492 billion for the full budget year. That would be the narrowest gap since 2008.

To be sure, none of this should come as a surprise, at least not to the policy mainstream. In recent years, the federal government has raised taxes and cut spending – and wouldn’t you know it, when Washington takes in more while spending less, the deficit gets smaller.

This is a basic budgetary truism that Republicans continue to resist. Indeed, last year, when top marginal rates increased on households making more than $400,000 a year, a variety of GOP lawmakers argued that this would likely cause the deficit to go up – as they saw it, higher taxes on the wealthy would slow growth, which would mean fewer jobs, which would mean fewer people paying income taxes, which would mean a larger deficit.

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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/budget-deficit-track-six-year-low

[MannyGoldstein]

1. The austerity... it is working! nt

[JoePhilly]

2. All good news is bad news.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Do you disagree that this is coming from austerity practices? nt

[JoePhilly]

4. Well it can't be from ...

... Ending the Iraq war, or increased revenue from ending the Bush tax cuts for the 1%, or by dropping UE by about 4%, or savings from ACA, or ... Nah...

Must just be "austerity".

[MannyGoldstein]

7. The Bush tax cuts for the 1% were ended?

I thought that less than one-third were ended.

[JoePhilly]

9. They ended for every one making over 400k.

Not surprised you didn't know. Or that the Iraq war was kind of expensive.

That's odd though. I mean, we on the left complained when Bush was President that he was running two wars, and not paying for them. Obama ends the Iraq war, raises the tax on the top earners, and you missed it.

This is going to be one of those things that people will praise Obama for after he leaves office.

Clinton reduced the debt and deficit after the first GHW Bush, then GW Bush raised them to dangerous levels again, and then Obama got them under control ... again.

And off to the side, I suspect some will be mumbling about the "austerity", and maybe the Social Security cuts, that didn't happen.

[MannyGoldstein]

10. Well...

http://robertreich.org/post/39333816768

Still looking for the aggregate... Surprised that you don't know that most of the Bush tax cuts were kept, and made permanent, the wealthiest being the top beneficiaries.

[MannyGoldstein]

11. Of course, the wealthiest saw the least effect

http://ctj.org/pdf/bidenmcconnelldeal.pdf

So Obama got less than half of what he asked for in repealing the Bush tax cuts. And, IIRC, he started off by asking to end significantly less than all the Bush cuts.

All told, I recall that more than two-thirds of the Bush tax cuts were made permanent, with the wealthiest getting the best deal.

[hollowdweller]

5. I'm sure there's a breakdown somewhere

Guessing the improving economy raising tax receipts, doing away with the payroll tax holiday and raising taxes and to a lesser extent austerity.

[n2doc]

6. Well, I suppose at least something is.

Since a lot of workers aren't. Still.

[Historic NY]

8. But, but , but......

it can be...say the baggers.