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BUSH Will Double the Budget Deficit!!!!!!

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Anonymous

Guest
$3.1 Trillion dollar budget- with less going toward taking care of domestic issues and the folks at home- while he sends more taxpayer dollars overseas .... :( :mad: Republican "fiscal conservatism"= give it all to the foreign countries.... :wink: :( :(

Reprinted from MoneyNews.com
Bush: Higher Deficit as Economy Slows

MoneyNews
Monday, Feb. 4, 2008


WASHINGTON -- President Bush forecast the U.S. budget deficit would more than double in 2008 and blamed a weakening economy as he unveiled a $3.1 trillion spending plan for fiscal 2009 Monday that would nearly freeze domestic programs.

The White House projections were immediately criticized by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers who said the numbers may gloss over the full extent of the fiscal deterioration.

With the economy teetering on the brink of a recession, Bush said the deficit would reach $410 billion for the budget year 2008 that ends on Sept. 30 and $407 billion for fiscal 2009 that begins on Oct. 1.

The budget makes military spending and the Iraq war its centerpiece, proposing a 7.5 percent increase for the Pentagon to $515 billion. On top of that Bush also sought $70 billion more for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bush, after meeting with his Cabinet, said, "The budget protects America and encourages economic growth. Congress needs to pass it."


The grimmer budget situation will be inherited by the next president, who succeeds Bush in January 2009.

While the near-term deficits are a concern, many budget experts are bracing for much more serious fiscal problems in coming years as the baby boom generation's retirement causes spending on health care and other entitlements to explode.

"Far from proposing a plan to fix the budget, the Bush administration proposes policies that worsen it, and with little compunction, leaves the consequences for the next administration and future generations," said House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, a South Carolina Democrat.

BUDGET AS "ACADEMIC EXERCISE"

While some Republican legislators welcomed the budget, New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, was scathing, saying it lacked credibility.

"This budget must have been viewed by them more as an academic exercise than a serious exercise because it's not a serious budget," Gregg told Reuters in an interview. "There are even more games than usual."

Bush forecast deficits of over $400 billion in the next two years. That would be more than twice the size of the $162 billion gap of 2007 and approach the $413 billion all-time high for the deficit hit in 2004.

The bigger deficits, caused in part by weakening revenues amid a slower economy, would reverse a trend of the past three years in which annual deficits declined.

A promised $150 billion stimulus package of tax rebates meant to jolt the economy away from recession will also add to the deficit, at least in the short term, and funding for the Iraq war is another source of red ink.

"The budget takes into account that we're going to see a slowdown in the economy, a temporary one," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "It takes into account the economic stimulus package we're going to put in place in order to shield against that."

Bush said despite the worsening near-term deficit, it would still be possible to balance the budget by 2012 while making tax cuts he made in 2001 and 2003 permanent.

FISCAL WOES

Lawmakers gave numerous reasons why they thought his budget masked the true fiscal woes.

They noted it only includes a portion of the expected funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2009 and the economic forecasts underlying the figures are above those of private-sector economists.

The blueprint also assumes deep cuts in many popular domestic programs such as highway funds and heating assistance for the poor, in addition to wringing out billions in savings from the Medicare program for the elderly and disabled.

While many — if not most — of the priorities of the Bush budget will be jettisoned by the Democratic-led U.S. Congress, the unveiling of the document is sure to trigger a new round of sparring over Bush's fiscal policies and his economic legacy.

Democrats have hammered Bush for presiding over a shift to deficits after taking office amid budget surpluses, pointing to a jump in the national debt to $9 trillion from about $5.6 trillion when Bush took office in January 2001.

In addition to freezing scores of programs, Bush proposed cutting others totaling $7.1 billion and reducing still others by some $11 billion.

One area in which Bush did ask for more spending was combating illegal immigration, a popular Republican cause. He sought 17 percent more for customs and immigration enforcement, including for a border fence and more border patrol agents.
 

fff

Well-known member
Yet I think every Republican presidential candidate is calling for extending Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. George HW Bush called trickle down economics "voodo" when he was campaiging against Reagan. Reagan ran up a huge deficit in his Administration. George HW was right and George W. has proved it again. Conservatism doesn't work. Two icons of the conservative movement, Reagan and Bush II have proved it.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Mr. Browne pretty well sums up my feelings on this budget- and where GW is planning to spend it....It is not going to help our economy any if the biggest share of the money (which is being borrowed on the US citizens credit card again- allowing China, Asia and the Arab World to own more of our country) goes overseas to hire foreign workers- to build bridges, roads, water systems, and power plants in Iraq- while he cuts spending on US jobs, and upkeep of US infrastructure....And while cutting US citizens health care funding, and aid to children and the elderly- he is sending $Billions to Africa to fund AIDS clinics :roll: ...

A "principled win" in Iraq will not matter if it bankrupts the country to do it- and thats what its looking more and more like is going to happen...
:( :( :mad:



Financial Intelligence
by John Browne

Bush Attendance at Emergency
Cabinet Meeting an Ominous Sign


Today, I attended a private luncheon at which a talk was to be given by President Bush. He had to cancel at short notice to attend an emergency Cabinet meeting on the economy.

Well, at long last, it now appears that the sense of urgency that I have tried to convey to our readers (and on Larry Kudlow’s excellent TV show CNBC) over our economy has finally dawned upon the White House.

Until only last week, our president and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were telling us how strong and healthy our economy was today.

Apparently, they felt our economy was so strong that we could well afford yet more money to be frittered away on a futile war and on infrastructure enhancement in Iraq.

Today in The Wall Street Journal there appears the following front-page headline: “Rising Cost of Iraq War May Reignite Public Debate.” To my mind, that is a masterly understatement, especially when pouring a planned total of $1 trillion into this rat hole, combined with planned cuts in Medicare — and that is only the declared, “on balance sheet” figure.

Last week, I penned an item entitled “The Great Debt Deflator Coming.” In it, I warned that, “Just as in a growth period, debt acts as an ‘inflator,’ so in a recessionary period, debt acts as a ‘deflator’.”

I also said that I expect the debt proportion of today’s inflated asset prices to be “wrung out” and that we should expect the value of most assets to fall dramatically to near their equity values.

That means that I see serious falls in asset values looming ahead. I feel our readers should be forewarned and not be tempted into buying assets that the Wall Street cheerleaders claim are cheap!

Well, it appears that our government does not share my view and is borrowing like it is going out of style!

Worse still, the government is not borrowing to increase employment in relatively low tech, labor-intensive jobs such as in construction and in the repair of our depleted infrastructure but to make high-tech bombs and shells to blow up over Iraq, where we are in fact investing heavily in infrastructure! It is enough to make a grown man cry.

The message of the gross domestic product figures for the last quarter of 2007 are that it is looking like the recession, which I forecast over a year ago, is now increasingly likely given that our economic growth is declining rapidly.

Today, too, The Financial Times front page include an article entitled “Loan Market in ‘Disarray’ After Harrah’s Upset.”

The article goes on to explain how banks are already saddled with more than $150 billion of unsyndicated debt, most of it LBO-related. (Harrah’s is a casino corporation seeking financing.) According to the head of debt capital markets at one major Wall Street firm, “The market is in total disarray.”

Said another senior banker: “The last 10 days have been the worst ever. There is a complete buyers’ strike.”

As I write, CNBC is highlighting a story of how borrowing is becoming increasingly difficult in many sectors.

And yet, as if totally divorced from the reality of Main Street, our government has just announced a massive $3 trillion budget with massive increases in allocations for the ill-advised war in Iraq.

It is well known by economists that, in times of recession, the one great shortage is that of cash. Loans are increasingly difficult to obtain.

Individuals should prepare themselves by shedding all debt and non-vital expenditures, particularly those financed by debt.

However, the fact that our president had to cancel a planned luncheon talk at such short notice would appear to indicate that things economic are not going according to plan at the top!

In short, there appears to be a growing realization of emergency in Washington. Not a moment too soon.

This should flash emergency signals in the minds of our readers to take appropriate actions — actions such as increased asset allocation to cash; short-term Treasuries; ETFs that short the stock markets; and gold, which we have urged for many months.

Take heed of small signs of a crack before it becomes obvious to everyone, followed by a deluge. Good luck!
 

Mike

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
$3.1 Trillion dollar budget- with less going toward taking care of domestic issues and the folks at home- while he sends more taxpayer dollars overseas .... :( :mad: Republican "fiscal conservatism"= give it all to the foreign countries.... :wink: :( :(

Sure wish we could go back to these days...............................

Yes, I miss him. Heck I just wish we had a "BUDGET" PERIOD!!!!!!
 
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