The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle.
The Treasury reported a deficit of $829 billion for the October-March period, compared with $717 billion a year earlier, as revenue rose a sluggish 6.9 percent as the economic recovery slowly gained pace.
Of course there are "explanations" "justifications" and "excuses" to convince the public that they shouldn't quite trust just the actual data . One plus one doesn't really equal two.
The Treasury argued that the pace of increase in the deficit was deceptive because of large one-off reductions in expenditures made during the first half of fiscal 2010, compared with previous and subsequent periods.
Those included a $115 billion reduction in funds spent on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) -- the financial institution bailout program -- in March 2010.
"America has a debt problem"- Barack Obama
It is the ending sentence though that should bother most people:
He [Obama] also "faces a looming battle over increasing the country's official debt ceiling, so that the government can continue to borrow to finance the deficit."
There is something inherently wrong with the portion of that sentence I just emphasized.
Borrow money to finance the deficit. In debt, so naturally the only conclusion is to borrow more money, raising your debt in order to finance the continued out-of-control spending habits of our government.
When George Bush was President, then-Senator Barack Obama said "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. ... Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem."
Of course now that Obama is the President, things are quite different and he "regrets" his vote against raising the debt limit, after that little speech because now he is the one asking Congress to raise the debt limit.
There is no doubt that America cannot default on it's loans. The debt limit is going to be raised, yet again, simply because there is no choice.
Fair warning to Republicans in control of the House though. They had better stick to their guns and make sure that before doing so a long term plan, in writing and signed off on by all parties involved, is in place to get our fiscal house in order.
Obama plans on giving a speech today because of course when he gives a speech all these problems just go away, right?
Handing it over to Andrew Malcolm from Top of the Ticket now for a second:
Hence, again the perceived need for another Obama speech today. He'll try to recapture control by adjusting the subject: Yes, yes the deficit is bad, though not as bad as you-know-which party makes it out to be. We do need to trim it with some cuts over time. But what we really need is more money to get stuff done.
You know, those rich people with the money to create new jobs? Let's take some more from them in taxes and Social Security assessments. Not from you! From them. Who's gonna oppose somebody else paying more taxes?
Obama's recent speeches have been lo-cal on substance, heavy on swell-sounding calls for someone to do something -- such as increase domestic oil production. The media reports. The people listen. They nod. And very few point out that, wait a minute, the guy talking is the one who can make that happen. So, why isn't he doing instead of talking all the time?
uh huh, yup, exactly.
With the continuing resolution for fiscal 2011 budget fight finally over, where Republicans had to fight Democrats and Obama tooth and nail just to cut billions in spending when our national debt is in the trillions, does anyone truly believe Democrats or Barack Obama are serious about fiscal responsibility? About slashing government spending to stop us from spiraling downward into debt we will never be able to pay off?
If so, I still have that swamp land in Florida for sale... call me, let's talk!
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