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Originally Posted by Arty The Economist predicts a deficit of 5.2% of GDP. The White House predicts 4.5%. http://www.economist.com/countries/U...ofile-Forecast
In perspective, the EU guidelines for responsible fiscal policy put the limit at 3%. That France and Germany have gone over that limit is seen as extremely worrying for the Eurozone. The US deficit is huge, in other words. There may have been larger ones in the past, I don't have time to check, but since when was that a justification for anything? Who says it was right then? Why does the US need to do this to itself now? |
Bush has a plan to half the deficit by 2008. So there is the solution.
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Section 7 here shows the estimates for the federal debt as a proportion of GDP. As you can see, it came down from the WWII all the way to Reagan, who sent it off upwards again.
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No, Reagan was not in control of Congress, which controls spending. The Democrats spent $1.62 for every new dollar Reagan brought in. Reagan doubled revenues to the Treasury from $500 billion to $1 trillion during his two terms. Still the Dims spent far more than he brought in.
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Clinton just about managed to bring it under control before Bush sent it rocketing again. It is predicted to rise to levels not seen since 1952, when you were still paying off WWII. Unbelievable irresponsibility. I fail to see how Republicans seem to see themselves as the party of fiscal repsonsibility.
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Clinton projected deficits the first two years of his Presidency. The Republicans took over in 1994, and they balanced the budget in only six years. Those were the first balanced budgets in 30 years of Democrat rule over the House and Senate.
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget...5/pdf/hist.pdf
Section 1 shows the budget surpluses and deficits, but doesn't show them as a % of GDP. It does, however, show that the deficit is well over 25% of the total tax receipts. I think it also assumes that the tax cuts won't be made permanent.
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Because the GDP grows each year, the only way to compare is by using % of GDP. This is not the largest deficit by a long shot using those rules.