U.S. budget deficit drops to US$250 billion

[JohnMK]

Quote by: xyzer Is this a cop out?

Yeah, I've no more time to spare in this discussion (with you) given the obfuscational debating tactics you are employing. I've tried talking directly at you, answering each point individually, but this doesn't work. For example I mention in a few posts prior that over the '90's the military budget lost about 20% of its purchasing power while in constant dollar terms it was relatively even, and then you post this, indicating to me that you didn't read my post:

Quote by: xyzer Come on now you put a decade of decreasing military spending(using constant dollars in a period where we know dollars are buying less each year) and explain it as staying virtually the same. Shame on you!

How can a rational and efficient conversation be held under such conditions? I assert it cannot.

[RickSp]

Quote by: bishop yeah, because it wasn't bush who signed all that spending into law... it was his evil twin brother. :rolleyes:

All those out of control spending bills that Bush vetoed....Oh, that's right he lost his veto pen.

But we know that nothing is Bush's fault. His is the zero accountability administration. The buck always stops somewhere else.

[bishop]

absolutely rick... with a little effort, all problems can and will be blamed on clinton.

Quote by: xyzer In spite of it all the tax cut initiative appears to be helping the economy and reducing the deficit which so alarmed Greenspan. I'm encouraged that this economic boom will have lasting effects and we can finally achieve a better balanced budget. That to me is a better way than heavier taxes as a solution..

i have yet to see any quantitative evidence that the tax cuts have, in fact, helped the economy to any material degree.. the booms we've seen in consumer spending, the housing market, and the stock market have all come as a result of the fed's aggressive rate cuts. and, it's very easy to qualify those statements with hard facts - whereas you can't marry any hard facts to suggest that the tax cuts have done anything material to the economy.

but, if you think you can provide evidence showing that the tax cuts have made a material impact (as opposed to the rate cuts), go ahead and try. i've looked and have yet to find any clear evidence that we even needed these debt-financed "tax-cuts"... all we needed was an increase in liquidity via interest rate cuts. you look at all of the business community's statements following the dot-com bust, and all of them continuously harped on about the need for liquidity.

and, simply looking at the present costs of the deficits vs. the "tax cuts", we've borrowed more than has been returned to tax payers. while the tax cuts largely went to the top 1% of taxpayers, the burden of paying these deficits back will be shared by all in one way or another.

plus, this "boom" you speak of completely differs from the boom we saw under clinton's presidency.. job and income growth was stronger across the board. under this "boom", we see a very clear disparity between the proverbial haves and have nots. in the 90's, all sides benefitted from economic growth at the national level.. since 2000, the only benefits have been realized by the "haves"...

and just to add one last note... since we have this increasingly growing gap between rich and poor, combined with our ridiculous debt and bankrupt programs, who do you think the public will look at to pay all these expenses? surely, if the lower crust continues on its downward spiral, only the rich will be able to pay the expenses - which means that we'll see much higher tax rates than if we were to pursue fiscally responsible policies..

but, all of that's lost on today's "republicans" who don't seem capable of seeing past their own noses.. living (or spending money) like today's your last day alive is exactly what's happened during bush's presidency.

[Georgia]

absolutely rick... with a little effort, all problems can and will be blamed on clinton.

Isn't what you guys do to GWB?
I can't think of a single solitary thing some people here wouldn't blame on Bush from hurricanes to global markets to the price of toilet paper..
Lots to go around here.

[bishop]

the deterioration of the country's finances has occurred, surprise, during bush's presidency...

has the dear leader vetoed a single spending bill? oh... that's right - he hasn't.