US Federal deficit increasing rapidly

Nithavela said:

How do you explain states with lesser religious tendencies that also have higher taxation and a smaller deficit?

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That's a symptom of the rich folks and corporations (the real beneficiaries of the GOP tax plans) tricking the faithful into voting for their tax policies by circulating rhetoric that implies that it's a person's God given duty to oppose "socialism" and secularism, and to do that, one must vote against more progressive tax plans.

It's not unlike the rhetoric about how "you need to oppose public school funding because public schools are trying to teach your kids <insert perceived anti-Christian value here>"...in reality, the guys running these PACs and political organizations don't care whether or not the schools teach kids about various aspects of evolution/sex/etc..., it's just that they need to find a way to get people to oppose funding measures, and "hey, you need to oppose public school funding and support 'school choice' because they're going to teach your kid evolution!" appeals to more people than "hey, I want your lowly middle class kids to go to sub-par schools so that I can save $20k/year on my taxes and put that toward fancy stuff for my rich kids"

People's faith has been the thing conservative brass have been able to exploit to get a large segment of the population to vote against their own interest for quite some time now.

Make no mistake about it, the kind of tax policies those guys want is NOT favorable to 85% of the population. (and 85% might even be a little generous tbh)

It's sad that pandering and rhetoric have become more convincing to some people than actual hard data and numbers.

dqhall said:

Large tax cuts and greater spending are rapidly increasing the deficit. Trump is making the Federal debt greater again:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...r-plus-deficits-fiscal-ruin-column/986236002/

The US is on track for higher inflation and/or increasing interest rates.

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Were you similarly alarmed when the national debt was raised by almost ten trillion dollars (a record) under the previous administration--and tax cuts were not involved??

I'm just trying to get a handle on how this recent development is supposed to be special rather than simply more of the same.

A double top reversal is in play in the dow.

The second top is almost formed so a major hair cut is almost here. Massive naked shorting by the banksters in all commodities and bonds. Every body is getting forced into the stock market before they kick the chair out. All the safe havens will explode in value and the dollar will be turned into powder.

A massive fall comming.

Albion said:

Were you similarly alarmed when the national debt was raised by almost ten trillion dollars (a record) under the previous administration--and tax cuts were not involved??

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Yes, we were alarmed, but Obama's deficits were so large because receipts were lower due to the recession, and outlays were higher due to measures taken to get out of the recession. Deficit spending is a legitimate tool to shorten / lessen the impact of a recession, so, while it has risk, it's better than the alternative.

I'm just trying to get a handle on how this recent development is supposed to be special rather than simply more of the same.

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What's different is that Trump's tax cuts came during a good economy (when you should be paying down debt) and that he's on pace to increase the debt at a rate faster than Obama.

US Federal Deficits by Year
https://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spending_chart_2007_2023USb_19s2li111tcn_G0f_Recent_Federal_Deficits

US Federal Deficits as a Percentage of GDP by Year
https://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/spe...111tcn_G0f_Recent_Federal_Deficits_As_Pct_GDP

Albion said:

Were you similarly alarmed when the national debt was raised by almost ten trillion dollars (a record) under the previous administration--and tax cuts were not involved??

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You want to talk about the debt, start a thread on it -- this thread is about the deficit.

2nd top in. Look out below.

U.S. on course for $1 trillion deficit

B-b-but I thought the GOP was the party of fiscal discipline!
Ringo

dqhall said:

Large tax cuts and greater spending are rapidly increasing the deficit. Trump is making the Federal debt greater again:
Trump trillion-dollar-plus deficits are putting America on a path to fiscal ruin

The US is on track for higher inflation and/or increasing interest rates.

Trump declared bankruptcy six times. New York banks stopped lending to him. He went to Russians for funding. He went to the Russians for more than funding. He also went to them for help with a presidential election dirty tricks campaign.
Subscribe to read | Financial Times

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It seems the American political elite , in the last decade or so, have been oblivious to the historical Implications of high debt levels, whether Dem or GOP. Yet this and Health Care Spending which is probably a major contributor to the numbers is the major issue threatening the USA today. America had a higher debt after WW2 (as % of GDP) and then spent 30 years reducing that debt. Years that were largely prosperous.

My understanding was that Trump promised growth rates of 4% but has delivered closer to 2%. Also he did not have the political capital to introduce meaningful health care reform. Raising the military budget 10% at a time of absolute dominance made little sense. A more sensible strategy would have been to seek rises in allies expenditure while reducing his own. As a result of this and tax cuts he has actually raised debt levels as a % of GDP. This is not a sustainable economic strategy in the long run and I hope the American voters vote for fiscally responsible candidates in the forthcoming mid terms.
It is actually a matter of national survival to elect fiscally responsible presidents in the future. I do not know if Americas electoral system allows for candidates that propose increased tax, painful reforms of medicare and pensions and reduced spending though.

If Trumps intention is to default on the debt in the long run that would be massively bad for Americans as well as people overseas since it is Americans that own the vast % of their own debt. Devaluing the dollar is no longer a get out mechanism since America also has a trade deficit in key areas.

That foreigners now own 30% (China and Japan especially) of Americas debt makes it strategically vulnerable in ways it has never been before. It puzzles me why this is not headline news on a daily basis.

Here’s who owns a record $21.21 trillion of U.S. debt