US deficit projected to reach $1.9 trillion this year

Trump heard there were minors involved and mistakenly got excited.

 

Instead of writing all that you could have just said "I'm going to pretend Obama didn't inherit a broken economy from Bush."

 

I think there is a lot of truth to this, but... considering this is a money matter and somebody will have to pay it back, I am extremely concerned about Biden's attitude toward our debt situation much more so than I ever was Obama's. It is not lost on me Biden is 81 years old now and well knows he won't be around to sift through the rubble once our credit ratings start taking major hits and countries move away from the USD as the world reserve currency. With Obama, he was doing what he thought best to help the country climb out of the Great Recession. He proved this by having much more reasonable deficits during his 2nd term. Trump, despite what the resident liars here will tell you, never showed a proclivity for blowing budget deficits out of the water. It wasn't until the entire economy was forced to be shut down did we see the deficits skyrocket. Biden doesn't have an excuse.

We can argue all day about this president did this, this president did that, but the fact is in 2024, Joe Biden is running up an astonishing amount of debt. All I'm asking for is the rationale, the reason. Give the American public a good solid rationale for the grotesque deficits we are running while at sub-4 unemployment. I may not agree with most of what Obama did, but he had a rationale and he explained it to the American people. He also backed up his words during his 2nd term as you saw deficits dwindle noticeably. Ditto Trump. Gave the rationale.. Covid, lockdowns, ungodly GDP contraction. We needed to help Americans get through Covid while they were displaced from employment. But that ship has sailed. What's the reason, Joe? It's a question everybody should be asking, because we are going to have to pay it back with interest at some point. Just a matter of time before the interest payback on our national debt will swallow our total yearly budget. I hope some of you realize we can't do that forever!! And what happens when another crisis hits? If it's cool to be $2 trillion in the red now, does Joe take it to $5 trillion in the red the next time an actual crisis hits? We can't do it.

 

Obamas first budget was 2010. Bush submitted the 2009 Budget that started in October and was 4 month spent by time Obama was inaugurated. Obama's first budget started Oct 1 2009 and was the 2010 Budget. #Knowledgeispower #thingsyoushouldknow #betrolling

 

The graphics you posted indicated Obama reduced the deficit as a percentage of GDP and the facts are if you put Bush's 8 years and Obama's 8 years side by side, Obama's deficits ran much higher as a percentage of GDP in the aggregate. But as I alluded to above, at least Obama had a rationale, a reason. I may not have liked it, but yeah, the Great Recession was brutal. Not only did we need to recover from it, we needed to regulate the banking and finance industry in such a way to make sure the excesses never happened again. Overall, I don't have terrible grades for Obama's handling of the economy. I do think he could have achieved it without tripling Bush's deficits, but again, at least he had a rationale and wasn't just doing it to give away money.

Obama also was much younger than Biden. He will probably live another 25 to 30 years. And Obama has two young daughters that he loves very dearly that will have to grow up in the aftermath of whatever we do with the national debt. Biden? He knows he's literally living on borrowed time and doesn't give two shits about what his deficits do to future generations, because he'll be dead when the shit hits the fan.

 

If we have to have higher taxes, then we are screwed. Raising taxes to pay for an out-of-control government only leads to one thing - hyperinflation.

 

Our taxes are incredibly low compared to any so-called "developed" country. Its pretty scandalous that people think taxes are out of control, goes to show you how effective propaganda is.

 

Ok so now we'll just pretend that Bush didn't inherit a surplus from Clinton.

I get that's inconvenient to the narrative about Republicans being better at managing the economy, but the truth is that the Democrats are more fiscally responsible. I used to believe that about Republicans also until I got older and actually looked at the data.

 

Many of us will know exactly what hit us. But the finger pointers that are here still pointing fingers will still be pointing fingers.

When both sides have done a shit job of fiscal management it really doesn’t matter who was better and who was worse. Neither side’s presidents have had Line Item Veto authority so who is president really doesn’t matter. This is congress’ issue. They created it and will have to solve it. All the president can do is take bogus credit when things go well and run for the hills when they don’t. He vetoes the whole bill or vetoes nothing.

 

The Laffer Curve is a real thing. Republicans love to toss it out as justification for lowering taxes. When economists try to empirical determine the peak of the curve (where raising or lowering taxes both result in reduced tax revenues) they usually end up in the 50-60% range. If we are using the Laffer Curve to justify tax policy, our tax rates should be much higher.

 

Among other things.

When are people going to figure out giving half of your income to the government isn't a perk. It's enslavement. America rose to greatness without a Federal income tax. It didn't take even 100 years for people to not only be conditioned to accept this new intrusion into their lives, but to openly pine for it as though it is something that will work out well for them in the end. I would say those people have earned what's coming to them, while ruining it for the millions of hard-working Americans who understand without our economic freedom, we don't truly have freedom. Just slaves to the government, their bureaucracies and institutions...

 

Yeah, definitely. I point fingers at people who voted for a guy who initiated tax cuts for corporations and top earners, instantly turning a shrinking deficit into a rapidly growing deficit.....and pledges to cut taxes again, if reelected.

Yes, I most definitely point fingers at anyone who would vote for THAT.

 

If you enjoy the idea of enslavement, then yeah, 50-60% tax rates make sense. When it fails to work out and your family feels more pain than they ever would have before, don't come crying to us. We tried to tell you. Again, we didn't even have a Federal income tax until 1913. The United States of America achieved the world's largest GDP without a Federal income tax. Let that sink in...

 

The guy who came up with curve doesnt even believe that though

 

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I guess in joworld a deficit is only derived from one variable, not two. Oh well, enjoy the mess that you have closed one of your eyes to. Please do it quietly so maybe the rest rest of us can have an intelligent conversation.

 

Republicans/conservatives used the Laffer curve as a rationale for opposing Bill Clinton's modest 1993 income tax increase claiming that it would actually lower rather than increase revenue. They were wrong.

 

I think it's funny how a certain group likes to bash Biden but when they are called out on it they're respons is alwaya "both sides are guilty but Biden bad"

 

So anything other than defense? Aid to foreign countries is a comparatively small number.

 

Are you aware that the fiscal year is Oct-September? So fiscal year 2009 was 4 months of Bush - and the economy and markets crashed before he stepped foot in office. So your assertion that “Obama tripled” suggests a really low level of understanding on the topic - as if the president is the main cause of deficits.

 

Medicare, Medicaid, SS and defense all have to be on the table just because of their percentage of the budget.
Subsidies, postal service, National flood insurance.....
Enforce existing laws on taxes.....

Just off the top of my head, but I also had a glass of wine so missing a bunch I am sure.