"Awaiting Pres. Bush's Anouncement on Deficit" (CNN)

[Norquist Nemesis]

UGH!!! Time to mute the TV...NOW! They're 'killing' time over it while they wait (positive talk).

:puke:

[magellan]

1. What can one say but

...it's HUGH!!11

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. LOL!

***mute*** while I watch CSPAN 3. I'm sure the banner will keep me up to date with the highlights.

[kentuck]

2. Check out this explanation from NYTimes editorial page...

<snip>
This is proof, if anyone still needs it, that this administration is desperate for something to boast about. On Mr. Bush’s watch, triple-digit budget surpluses have turned into annual triple-digit budget deficits. There’s no information in the midsession report to alter that utterly dispiriting fact. Yes, the report is expected to project that this year’s deficit will be somewhat less gargantuan than last year’s — probably somewhere between $280 billion and $300 billion, versus a $318 billion shortfall in 2005. That’s not much to crow about.

But Mr. Bush is likely to gloat, anyway. Earlier this year, the administration conveniently projected a highly inflated deficit of $423 billion. With that as a starting point, the actual results can be spun to look as if they’re worth cheering.

The razzle-dazzle won’t end there. As he did in his remarks on Saturday, Mr. Bush is sure to use today’s event to credit tax cuts for a projected “surge” in tax revenue. The Treasury is expected to take in about $250 billion more in 2006 than in 2005, for a total take of $2.4 trillion. Devoid of context, the number looks impressive.

In fact, it is $100 billion less than the $2.5 trillion revenue estimate the administration touted when it set out in 2001 to sell its policy of never-ending tax cuts. Even with this year’s bigger haul, real revenue growth during the Bush years will be abysmal, averaging about 0.3 percent per capita, versus an average of nearly 10 percent in all previous post-World War II business cycles. That might be excusable if the recent revenue improvements could reasonably be expected to continue. They cannot. Much of the increase in tax receipts is from corporate profits, high-income investors and super high-earning executives, sources that are just as unpredictable as the financial markets to which they’re inevitably linked.

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. The Dog and Pony show really kicks into high gear

during an election year, doesn't it?

They've been doing this with numbers for quite a while now. Oh! I see from the banner: "The ecnonomy was headed for a recession when Bush took office". Now the room is erupting with adoration and applause. UGH! Can't stand to watch it, even muted.

[C_U_L8R]

5. Liar Liar

Deficit on Fire