Showing posts with label Federal Deficit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Federal Deficit. Show all posts

Friday, January 9, 2009

Key Point

Written By D.

I was reading a brochure from TD Wealth Management this morning. There was a section called “Six key points to remember about the Credit Crisis.”

Key point number three was interesting (my emphasis added);



“Credit crises generally run their course over a period of two years or when governments do not let their economies purge themselves of their excesses, in which case the crisis can drag on for years. Japan was the best example of this and their credit crisis lasted the full decade of the 1990’s.”
Is the financial world trying to tell us all something?

Seems to me they are and the message is real clear, it is time for government to spend less, not more.

Right now we are being told that a few Democrats are opposed to some of the items in the Pres-Elect’s “economic recovery plan.”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hEx3tiPJhZQLVqjNmHR_oP6FZMuwD95JI2G81

They are mostly just splitting spending hairs arguing about amounts and how to spend it. If you argue over whether to put the billions here or there, I’d say you are missing the point.

Although, to their credit, Senators Conrad and Gregg both say they are “against using the economic recovery plan for permanent spending increases.” But that probably won’t stop the permanent spending increases, unless they are the toss away part of the "show" to make it appear they are fiscally responsible.

These disagreements are always more about show than go. It may even be aimed at baiting the Republicans into arguing about the merits of parts of the plan, rather than the merits of having a plan at all ... once Republicans take the bait, Democrats give in on something they didn’t care about anyway, claim they compromised and then Republicans and Democrats congratulate themselves for reaching the compromise … and the Democrats get the cover they want in the form of bipartisan support. Hey, Republicans fall for that Liberal trick all the time, that’s part of the reason we are in this mess and in the minority.

I stopped believing that Liberals were capable of any fiscal responsibility long ago. I am also beginning to doubt the will of Republicans to fight the good fight against government excesses.
What would get my attention is if they opposed the plan altogether. In that same AP article, Rep. John Boehner, the House GOP Leader said,” We can’t buy prosperity with more and more government spending.” And my reply is; don’t just talk the Republican talk, walk the Republican walk.

My father once told me, “Be careful of any plan that has the broad support of both parties, it usually means you are about to be “expletive deleted.”” (I won’t use his colorful terminology here)

Folks, right now it doesn’t look like the excesses are going to be purged, so I guess we can expect the crisis to drag on for years.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

“Anyone? Anyone?”

Written By D.

A big number doesn’t seem so large without all those zeroes. So saying 1 trillion as opposed to 1,000,000,000,000 is a useful way to make the number seem smaller and to save time typing all those zeroes. But the zeroes are very important and deserve inclusion.

The government of Tax-A-Lot’s deficit numbers are so large most people can’t relate to their actual size, more so without the zeroes, they just know the word “trillion” means a big number. Tax-A-Lot is counting on that as they pile on the debt, deeper and higher.

But here is a way to visualize it;
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/09-08/0920NATtrillions.pdf

Yesterday it was reported that the federal deficit for fiscal year 2009 will be $1.2 trillion. That’s $1,200,000,000,000.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090107/ap_on_bi_ge/budget_deficit_22

That’s a lot of debt, but if you think that is big, check out the total Federal Debt;

The Federal Debt is approximately; $10,600,000,000,000 (10.6 Trillion)

“As of November 19, 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was $10.6 trillion,
with about $37,316 per capita (that is, per U.S. resident). The October 3rd,
2008 bailout bill (H.R.1424), section 122, raised the U.S. debt ceiling from $10
trillion to $11.3 trillion. Of this amount, debt held by the public was roughly
$6.3 trillion. In 2007, the public debt was 36.8 percent of GDP, with a total
debt of 65.5 percent of GDP.”
Source Quoted; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt


The government has succeeded in making debt a large percentage of GDP.

How much does the government take in from taxes? Well, in 2004, Federal, State and Local government took in over $3,000,000,000,000 ($3 trillion.)

But they just can’t seem to manage on that paltry sum.

Where did that $3,000,000,000,000 come from? The short answer is it came from us taxpayers. But with higher and higher unemployment and more and more people entering retirement, there are fewer and fewer of us.

In case you are curious about the $3,000,000,000,000 broken out by specific taxes, here is a list of taxes for 2004 with all the zeroes;

Table 13. Federal, State and Local Taxes Allocated in the Current
Study, Calendar Year 2004

Federal Taxes
Calendar Year
2004
Amount

Payroll Taxes (Contributions for
Government Social Insurance) $802,200,000,000

Individual Income
Taxes $801,400,000,000

Corporate Income Taxes
$244,500,000,000

Estate and Gift Taxes
$24,600,000,000

Gasoline Excise Taxes
$24,200,000,000

Customs Duties, Etc.
$23,300,000,000

Air Transport Excise Taxes
$12,100,000,000

Other Excise Taxes
$10,400,000,000

Diesel Fuel Excise Taxes
$9,200,000,000

Alcoholic Beverages Excise Taxes
$8,400,000,000

Tobacco Excise Taxes
$7,100,000,000

Total Federal Taxes
$1,967,400,000,000


State and Local Taxes

Property Taxes
$329,800,000,000

General Sales and Gross Receipts Taxes
$254,200,000,000

Individual Income Taxes
$225,100,000,000

Other Taxes on Production and Imports
$48,200,000,000

Corporate Income Taxes
$43,100,000,000

Gasoline Excise Taxes
$33,800,000,000

Other Excise Taxes
$29,300,000,000

Public Utilities Taxes
$21,600,000,000

Insurance Receipts Taxes
$14,600,000,000

Personal Motor Vehicle License Taxes
$13,600,000,000

Tobacco Excise Taxes
$12,300,000,000

Motor Vehicle Licenses on Production & Imports
$7,600,000,000

Severance Taxes $6,900,000,000

Special
Assessments Taxes $6,500,000,000

Personal Property Taxes
$5,700,000,000

Estate and Gift Taxes
$5,700,000,000

Alcoholic Beverages Excise Taxes
$4,600,000,000

Other Personal Taxes
$4,100,000,000

Total State and Local Taxes
$1,066,700,000,000


Source: U.S. Commerce Department’s
Bureau of Economic Analysis; Tax Foundation
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/wp1.pdf

And now we are being warned of the “dire consequences” of not spending more. I seem to recall being warned of the “dire consequences” of not passing the big bailout a few months ago. Yet as the deficit spending increases, the economy continues to tank.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_economy

OUESTION: How long do you think we can sustain this ever increasing debt?

ANSWER: Who knows? … I feel like the Economics Professor (played by Ben Stein) in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” when, after asking a question and receiving no reply, he said, “Anyone? Anyone?”

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