Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was wondering why some Democratic leaders are obcessed with deficits, such as Kent Conrad of North Dakota.
The budget deficit in 2006: -1.9%
These are the budget deficits by year rounded:
1983 -6%
1984 -5%
1985 -5%
1986 -5%
1992 -5%
1993 -4%
1994 -3%
I think this making a big deal out of a -2% budget deficit is all political. Seriously, I wonder what programs the deficit hawks would like to cut or eliminate with that -2% budget gap?
Maybe because any amount of deficit adds to the federal debt, and we must pay interest on the federal debt. Interest on the federal debt is now the third largest chunk of government spending. In Fiscal Year 2006, the U. S. Government spent $406 Billion of your money on interest payments to the holders of the National Debt. Compare that to NASA at $15 Billion, Education at $61 Billion, and Department of Transportation at $56 Billion.
In other words, pay off the federal debt, and the interest savings will be the biggest possible cut in spending we could make. Any other cut in spending is a drop in the bucket in comparison.
The national debt is represented by Treasury notes and bills, which are purchased by major investors, rich individuals and foreign governments like Saudi Arabia and China. Thus, the interest payments on the national debt are really a transfer of wealth from the taxpayers to the wealthiest. This is much greater than the transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the poor, which is what the rightpwing is always complaining about.
So, we end up with the Democrats complaining about the deficit. That's a conservative position. And, the GOP defends the deficit -- that's hardly a fiscally conservative position. The hilarious bottom line is that today, the Democrats are more fiscally conservative and more responsible when it comes to handling the economy than the Republicans. Democrats used to be the "tax and spend" party (you'll still see some people who are hopelessly behind the times using that phrase); today the Republicans are truly the "borrow and spend" party, while pretending to hide behind their tax cuts
More and more people are realizing that the GOP uses double-speak (an Orwellian term for bullshivicky). That's why the Dems won the midterm elections.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
