Federal Deficit getting smaller - according to the latest news reports

[ez bake]

So a friend who leans a little left posted something about the deficit shrinking every year and I looked into it (I have to admit, I know very little about how the national debt/deficit numbers actually translate to real-world numbers that mean something to me).

Turns out that the deficit is shrinking according to nearly every source I can find (here's an example):

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/federal_deficit_chart.html

So every one of the pro-dem media-channels out there seem to be harping on the fact that Republicans are screaming about debt over nothing.

But then I looked into the total amount of debt we've been in over the last several years and found this:

http://www.skymachines.com/US-National-Debt-Per-Capita-Percent-of-GDP-and-by-Presidental-Term.htm

So does this mean we're going into debt more slowly, but still going into debt? And our debt is approaching record high levels (or what)?

Because I've got to be honest, it seems impossible that we're going into debt more slowly, yet Obama's term has yielded nearly the same amount of debt as Bush's over the course of just over half a term.

 

[JD8]

If you or your friend read the second link posted, the data is scary IMO. The first link, I'm not so sure about as they don't give much or any reference. Unlike the second link.

I have NO idea where he gets where the debt is shrinking, per the second link, it's 103% of our GDP.... for the first time.

 

[cjjtulsa]

It's true! And unemployment is down, house prices are rising, and the emerald green pastures of the fruited plains are alive with unicorns and rainbows! Thanks, Barry!

 

[right1911]

Debts increasing just not as fast. We haven't passed a budget in 4 years and keep raising debt ceiling. "unfunded obligations" put us in the hole close to 50 trillion dolars over next 30 years.

 

[angsniper]

Uh, that debt clock isn't running backwards....

 

[Spata]

The deficit will shrink to about $425bil in 2015, down from $1.1tril last year. Then, sometime in 2017 something will happen and force the deficit up to $2.1tril.

 

[daytomann]

They also said the last economic contraction was " the best looking contraction ever" or something to that effect. They also cook the unemployment numbers as much as possible. They don't count people who stop looking for jobs. So there's more people out if work now than in 08 but the unemployment rate is lower? Uh???
Well, that's what they try to tell us anyway.

From these people we are told whats up is really down, what's real is now false. What's brown is really yellow. See the pattern yet?
Lol no the debt is not going backwards.

 

[ez bake]

If you or your friend read the second link posted, the data is scary IMO. The first link, I'm not so sure about as they don't give much or any reference. Unlike the second link.

I have NO idea where he gets where the debt is shrinking, per the second link, it's 103% of our GDP.... for the first time.

There's sources in usgovernmentspending.com, you just have to click a few times to get past the charts and then to the sources.

I get that national debt exceeded GDP (which is a first - yay Obama for breaking records!), but in reality - the annual deficit isn't the same as our overall national debt - so basically news outlets are playing with words to say "we're decreasing the deficit each year by more than Bush did", but they're only comparing to Bush's last year in office (FY 2009), and when saying "it's at a 5-year low", they're only comparing it (again) to Bush's last year in office.

Bush's increase in spending in FY 2009 (term year 2008) was a 28-year high only topped by Reagan which tells me two things:

1. Reagan and Bush were two of the highest spending Republicans in the last 50 years and Obama has topped them.

2. Clinton had one of the most financially responsible two-terms in the last 50 years - which I believe seals up the fact that he was in fact, a pimp.

If only we could get someone who understood what it was like to be a regular citizen, wasn't chasing tail all the time, and could balance a checkbook - damn, we'd hit pay-dirt (which is better than what we're going to hit if we continue the path we're going down).

 

[SMS]

Any deficit projections are just that, projections. Or in other words...they are guessing.

Some of the CBO's projections assume a 1.5% growth. If that growth doesn't materialize, the projection is worth nothing (growth in the 4th quarter of 2012 was recently revealed to be .1%).

We are still raking in debt, and unfunded liabilities will drown us. Shaving $100B off the deficit for one year is like an individual saving one dollar when they are a million bucks in the hole. Patting yourself on the back about your "savings" won't change the fact that you ain't getting anywhere.

 

[JD8]

I get that national debt exceeded GDP (which is a first - yay Obama for breaking records!), but in reality - the annual deficit isn't the same as our overall national debt - so basically news outlets are playing with words to say "we're decreasing the deficit each year by more than Bush did", but they're only comparing to Bush's last year in office (FY 2009), and when saying "it's at a 5-year low", they're only comparing it (again) to Bush's last year in office.

It's not the same but no less significant, one will eventually affect the other yes? Debts are accumulated deficits.

I'm going to say that each presidency needs to be looked at objectively before superficially comparing numbers. So comparing Clinton, (who wasn't all that)Bush, Reagan, etc doesn't relieve Obama of any responsibility.

If only we could get someone who understood what it was like to be a regular citizen, wasn't chasing tail all the time, and could balance a checkbook - damn, we'd hit pay-dirt (which is better than what we're going to hit if we continue the path we're going down).

In which, anyone with half a brain could see that Romney was light years closer to this mentality than Obama ever was.

All of this is moot IMO, nobody in their right mind can say we are headed on the right track on fiscal matters in this country. WE are an embarassment, from top to bottom and he's our leader. He had four years, and initially a dem controlled congress and he's done jack schitt outside of pile up taxes, legislature, and regulations. Just because we might drop a few fractions of a precentage points on some chart, doesn't reflect what's going on in the real world. Do you see leadership on fiscal matters? budget? energy policy? foreign policy? All of these aspects tie into our economy and no matter what way it's spun, it's disgusting to see Obama and all of his supporters do all the fingerpointing.

I dunno about you, but in oversimplified terms, Dad would still give me swats no matter what my sister, cousins, or friends did or used to do. I was held accountable for my actions and there wasn't any getting out of it.