WN: Bush urged to curb overspending - Washington Times

[WorthyNewsBot]

Capitol Hill Republicans and conservative activists say President Bush must follow through on veto threats to keep spending of the Democrat-controlled Congress in check and re-establish Republicans as the voice of fiscal responsibility heading into the next election.

http://www.worthynews.com/news/washtimes-c...3141-5354r-htm/

[forrestkc]

Capitol Hill Republicans and conservative activists say President Bush must follow through on veto threats to keep spending of the Democrat-controlled Congress in check and re-establish Republicans as the voice of fiscal responsibility heading into the next election.

http://www.worthynews.com/news/washtimes-c...3141-5354r-htm/

Thats funny, blame it on the Dems. The fact is, Bush's budgetary proposals have averaged 8% growth in year over year discretionary spending since he took office. This is compared to Clinton's budgetary proposals averaging only 3% year over year. Of course our last supposed fiscal conservative, Reagan, averaged 11% growth in his budgetary proposals, so I guess Bush really is not doing so bad. The Republicans have demonstrated time and time again that they consistently out spend Democrats. Bush and the Republican Congress added more to the national debt than every single previous administration combined.

[kat8585]

I read that the deficit is going down much faster than expected. I think it was on Drudge. Of course liberals will never admit the tax cuts are working.

The prescription drug thing never should have happened, tho Democrats were in favor of it too, but we are also in a time of war, which raised the deficit, too.

[forrestkc]

I read that the deficit is going down much faster than expected. I think it was on Drudge. Of course liberals will never admit the tax cuts are working.

The prescription drug thing never should have happened, tho Democrats were in favor of it too, but we are also in a time of war, which raised the deficit, too.

That is not really the case. The only reason the deficit appears to be going down is an act of budget trickery on the part of the Bush Administration. They are treating the expenses associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as off budget. Moreover, the increased revenue currently is primarily due to current surpluses in Social Security and Medicare.

1) They report deficits including excess SS tax payments as if they were general revenues. We are paying more SS taxes than we should to pay beneficiaries -- $185 billion more last year, probably closer to $200 billion this year. These excess payments are supposed to be saved for the boomers retirements. The projected $177 billion deficit, however, includes these excess SS tax receipts. If you excluded the excess SS tax payments, and did not treat them as general tax revenues, the projected budget would be about $200 billion higher -- closer to $400 billion or so.

2) None of these budget numbers include "off-budget" expenses, like the costs of wars . To get a more accurate picture of the budget, take a look at how much the Govt actually has to borrow, which is reported by the Treasure department as well.

As of the end of FY06, the total debt of the US was:

09/29/2006 8,506,973,899,215.23

As of the end of last month:

05/31/2007 8,828,992,459,660.72

That represents a $323 billion increase in debt in 8 months, on pace for a total debt increase approaching $1/2 trillion again this year.

Also, look at the yearly income tax revenues excluding Payroll Taxes:

Year - Income tax revenues.

2000 1004.5

2001 994.3

2002 858.3

2003 793.7

2004 809.0

2005 927.2

2006 1,049.0

Even with inflation, we are hardly better today than we were prior to the tax cuts. Now how is it those tax cuts are generating more revenue?

Half a trillion more in debt by the end if FY 07. In fact, we will actually add more to the national debt this year then we did last year. This compared to surpluses with Clinton left office. Those tax cuts sure are working well.

[kat8585]

1. Wars usually cause deficits.

2. Social Security has a surplus??? There's nothing in that "lock Box".

[forrestkc]

1. Wars usually cause deficits.

2. Social Security has a surplus??? There's nothing in that "lock Box".

Social Security currently brings in almost 200 billion more than is currently paid to recipients. The program has a large surplus right now. In 20 years, thats going to change, but right now they are using that surplus to mask deficits in general revenue. Its a lie. What they are doing is issuing T-Bills against the Payroll Tax surpluses and treating those T-Bills then as General Revenue. Basically, its like continually taking out loans against your 401k, and then adding that loan amount into your yearly income. It only makes general revenue in more debt to the social security and medicare trust funds. They off budget the wars, and then use current payroll tax surpluses to make it look like their tax cuts are actually working. The fact is though, prior to the tax cuts, we had a budget surplus. Since the tax cuts, we have added more to the national debt than every single administration prior combined.

The wars have to be paid for. As it is, we are just passing the buck to the next generation (well my generation actually just later down the road). Unlike any other president before him in a time of war, Bush has basically said to the American people: "Lets have this war in Iraq, but don't worry, I will just hand the tab for it to your kids."

Here is another little piece of deception they are using. The Bush Administration likes to point out that Corporate Income Tax Revenues as a percentage of General Revenue has increased since 2001. The implication of course is that his tax cuts have actually shifted the tax burden more on to corporations. The problem is, its another act of deception on their part. The reason why Corporate Income Tax Revenues are higher as a percentage of General Revenue is that while Corporate Income has been going up, Median Household Income has been stagnant or declining every year since Bush took office.

If a CEO misrepresented its corporation's finances to the shareholders to the extent that the Bush Administration has misrepresented our countries fiscal situation, that CEO would wind up in the Federal Pen for it.