Fiscally Unsound, Part II

2003
Bush budget shows record deficit, billions in tax cuts

• Vowing to be a good steward of the public’s money, President Bush sent to Capitol Hill Monday a $2.2 trillion 2004 budget that calls for hundreds of billions in tax cuts and shows a record federal deficit of $304 billion
• The proposed military spending increase is 4.2 percent, or a $15 billion boost to $380 billion. But the budget does not provide any funding for a potential war with Iraq, which has been estimated at $60 billion or higher.
  http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/02/03/bush.budget/

2004
White House Predicts 2004 Deficit Of $445 Billion — the Biggest Ever

• The White House forecast yesterday that the U.S. budget deficit for this year will be a highest-ever $445 billion, lower than the administration previously predicted but nearly 20 percent larger than last year’s record shortfall.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27211-2004Jul30.html
• The Congressional Budget Office predicted on Monday that the federal budget deficit would hit a record this year and that accumulated deficits over the next decade would total $1.9 trillion.
• ‘It is becoming clear that the Bush administration has no plan to eliminate these deficits,’ said John M. Spratt Jr. (House Budget Committee).
  http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E0DA1438F934A15752C0A9629C8B63

2005
Record ‘05 Deficit Forecast

• Additional war spending this year will push the federal deficit to a record for fiscal 2005.
• Bush has pledged to cut the budget deficit in half by 2009.
• “Having racked up three of the largest deficits in history, the Bush administration is years away from reducing the deficit by half, or by any appreciable amount,” said Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (S.C.)
• In a separate briefing, CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin said tax cuts and spending enacted by Congress last year will contribute $504 billion to the government’s overall forecast debt between 2005 and 2014.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35029-2005Jan25.html

2006
Record US trade deficit in 2006

• The US deficit jumped by 8.2% to a record $856.6 billion in 2006, official figures show.
• The rise is the fifth consecutive annual increase in the deficit.
• The deficit for 2006 meant the US was borrowing more than $2bn daily to finance its trade gap.
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6450565.stm
• The United States ran a record trade deficit in 2006 for the fifth consecutive year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
  http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/13/business/trade.php

2007
U.S. trade deficit declined in 2007 after setting records for five consecutive years.

• The trade deficit with China continued to rise, jumping by 10.2 percent to $256.3 billion. That was the largest gap ever recorded with a single country, as Chinese imports surged despite a string of high-profile recalls of tainted products.
• Even with the lower overall deficit, the imbalance is still nearly double what it was in 2001, the year Mr. Bush took office.
  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/business/main3830222.shtml

2008
Bush Budget Could Shoot Government Spending to $3 Trillion

• Bush’s submission is already absorbing [criticism] castigating him for inheriting a government in surplus and leaving Washington with a budget deficit that is likely to break the record set four years ago, once war bills and the cost of tax rebate checks are factored in.
• “The next president is going to inherit a colossal mess because of the fiscal irresponsibility of this president,” Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Budget Committee said Saturday. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,327887,00.html
• President Bush will present a budget tomorrow that would slow the growth of Medicare (in the face of retiring Baby Boomers) and cut or eliminate an array of domestic programs but still anticipates a flood of new red ink that will rival the record deficits of his first term, administration officials said.
• The more than $3 trillion federal budget for 2009 that Bush will unveil is his final opportunity to shape the priorities of the government before leaving office a year from now.
• The new budget underscores Bush’s inability to get control of spending over the course of his seven-year tenure.
• Bush inherited a very large surplus, but his legacy from a fiscal point of view is having blown an opportunity to ameliorate the long-run budget deficits.

 

Part I: http://goearth.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/fiscally-unsound/

 
 

Fiscally Unsound, Part I

Pattern?
 

• The Consumer Confidence Index is the lowest since 1992 (Republican President).
• The S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index fell 14.1 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, the lowest since 1988 (Republican President).
• Record declines in housing were recorded in 15 metro areas.
• Prices declined in 19 of 20 metro areas tracked by the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price index.
• The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said home prices fell 3.1% in the first quarter, the largest drop since 1991 (Republican President) .
• Food inflation is the highest since 1990 (Republican President) .
• Diesel prices rose slightly Tuesday to a new record national average of $4.768 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
• “If present trends continue, we could be heading for the first annual drop in gasoline consumption in some 17 years (Republican President),” 
• Crude sets new record above $135.

 

  

Sources, top to bottom:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24839783
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24760224/
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomebuyingGuide/HomePriceReport.aspx
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12400801/
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/22/markets/oil.ap/index.htm?eref=time_us
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/ 

Says GOP, “Balanced Budget? Psshh…that’s for Democrats!”

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration, moving to cope with soaring budget deficits, says it is bringing back the one-year Treasury bill that it stopped issuing seven years ago when the budget was in surplus. (7 years ago…budget surplus….Democrats…). 

The Repblicans have year after year spent more money than they have in their budget.  And borrowing from Commies?? These Republicans can’t say they’re “Reagan” followers – Ron would never have put us so far in debt to Communist governments and Arab dictators.  (He’d still put us deeply into debt with non-communist countries, of course).

The title “Fiscally Responsible” is now awarded to the Democrats. 

 
Source: http://zfacts.com/p/318.html