This is getting serious - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

LUVMBDiesels · #1 03-20-2009, 03:36 PM

This is getting really scary. The bold is mine...

U.S. Federal Deficit Soars Past Previous Estimates
By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 20, 2009; 2:20 PM

Deteriorating economic conditions will cause the federal deficit to soar past $1.8 trillion this year and leave the nation wallowing in a sea of red ink far deeper than the White House had previously estimated, congressional budget analysts said today.
In a new report that provides the first independent analysis of President Obama's budget request, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that the administration's agenda would generate deficits averaging nearly $1 trillion a year over the next decade -- $2.3 trillion more than the president predicted when he unveiled his spending plan just one month ago.
And although Obama would come close to meeting his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term, the CBO predicts that the nation's annual operating deficit would never drop below 4 percent of the overall economy over the next decade, a level administration officials have said is unsustainable because the national debt would grow too rapidly.
By the CBO's estimate, for example, the nation's debt would grow to 82 percent of the overall economy by 2019 under Obama's policies, compared with a pre-recession average of 40 percent.
The new report could complicate efforts to win congressional approval for Obama's $3.6 trillion budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Democrats in the House and Senate are currently putting the finishing touches on their versions of Obama's spending plan, which calls for an expensive expansion of health coverage for the uninsured and new spending on education programs, as well as a first-time tax on greenhouse gas emissions.
Democrats hope to approve the measure before the Easter recess.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) has said the gloomier CBO forecast would require "adjustments" to Obama's budget, though he declined to specify what changes would be necessary. To reduce the deficits, Democrats could dial back Obama's spending plans or find new sources of revenue.
After meeting with Obama at the White House this week, Conrad said the president "understands the legislative process" and that "it's going to require everyone to make adjustments."
But other Democrats are not necessarily ready to follow Conrad's lead. At her weekly news conference on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed the expectation of bad news from CBO, the official budget scorekeeper for Capitol Hill, saying differences between that agency and the White House budget office are "not unusual."
"Our priorities are the same," Pelosi said. "This budget is a statement of our values and our investments in education, health care and the health of America. That includes prevention as well as care, and the energy initiatives as well as tax relief for 95 percent of the American people, as well as an approach that takes the deficit down. Those are the priorities of the budget."
White House budget director Peter Orszag made the same point after speaking with reporters on Tuesday.
"There are always some adjustments," Orszag said of the legislative budget process. "But those four pillars" -- health care, education, clean energy and deficit reduction -- "will be represented."

Oh well, once they cook the books it will all seem like 'prosperity is just around the corner'...

JollyRoger · #2 03-20-2009, 03:42 PM

Looks like Bush really messed up the place.

MTI · #3 03-20-2009, 03:46 PM

As much as many would like to blame a single person or administration, the simple truth lies, in part, that we evolved into an economy that had no foundation in "real work." The financial sector overtook the service and industrial sectors on the belief that wealth could be obtained without toil or tangible product.

mgburg · #4 03-20-2009, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JollyRoger

Looks like Bush really messed up the place.

Congress did...the DEMOCRATIC Congress...

School's dismissed!