THANK YOU OBAMA & DEMOCRATS! The Government Just Posted Its First Four-Month Budget Surplus In Years

[Triana]

Once again, as in prior history, a Democratic President succeeds in cleaning up the horrific economic mess a Republican administration left behind...

The U.S. government posted a net surplus over a four-month period for the first time since 2007 in the March-June, according to the latest monthly Treasury statement.

For June, the surplus totaled $71 billion. That actually fell short of expectations of a surplus of $80 billion.

Still, Washington is now on pace to record the lowest annual deficit since 2008, with a fiscal year to date deficit of $366 billion. That's 28% less than the shortfall recorded in the same period last year, according to Marketwatch, thanks mostly to increased revenue.

“Deficits are rapidly declining,” Paul Edelstein, director of U.S. financial economics at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said before the report according to Bloomberg. “A lot of it is coming on the revenue side, mostly from taxes -- there were increases in payroll taxes last year, which are still being felt this year, corporate profits are up and they are paying more in taxes.”

Here's the chart:

CLICK HERE to see the full release from the Treasury Dept.


SOURCE:

http://www.businessinsider.com/first-four-month-government-surplus-in-years-2014-7

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. Awesome!

Austerity is working! Budget surplus: quick put a bush in office.

[tuhaybey]

2. Thank you Obama for all the jobs

Look at job creation by the party of the president. 2014 is already the best year for job creation so far this century and it is near to being the best ever.

[sheshe2]

3. KnR!

[MontyPow]

4. The former recipients of foodstamps that were cut also thank the President and Democrats.

In fact the victims of the austerity budget thank them, as do the military, who seem to have an infinite supply of cash.

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. ...

[MontyPow]

13. Cuts don't come for free.

And as a Christian nation we seem to prefer cutting life sustaining programs but never life destroying programs.

Sure, elections matter. But so does the candidate you elect. We need to stop voting in redder Democrats and demand the party run better Democrats.

[SidDithers]

16. Wow. Seriously?...nt

Sid

[MontyPow]

18. Actually, they probably don't thank the President or the Congress for lowering the deficit.

Do you think austerity was good to the least among us? I don't.

[Le Taz Hot]

29. Excellent post,

though it's not what I think the OP had in mind. You were SUPPOSED to bring your pom poms and forget about fracking, war without end, and the sequester.

[MontyPow]

42. I try not to be a glass half empty,

But facts are facts, unfortunately

[IronLionZion]

30. Maybe the GOP will give what you want

and rescue you from those big bad democrats.

[MontyPow]

43. Pull you're head out of the sand.

Are you really the kind of person who mindlessly cheerlead all the time? Do you not turn a critical eye to anything?

I've always assumed Democrats had functional brains. I am disappointed daily.

Thanks for not making my day.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. That means the austerity is working!

Great stuff, but we still have more work to do.

Regards,

TWM

[IronLionZion]

31. There's plenty of room to raise taxes

on the top 2% or even more, and for capital gains and speculative financial transactions

[MannyGoldstein]

34. Yup. But instead, 82% of the Bush tax cuts

were made permanent.

[IronLionZion]

44. Forward.

Not back

[onecaliberal]

6. But the geniuses in this country

still think that cons are better with the economy. WTF? Really?

[underpants]

7. Yep debt debt debt

This fact is completely ignored by the media

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. Of course the Republicans will now fall back on their old talking point...

Where they scream "the American People" have been OVERCHARGED and they demand a REFUND in the form of TAX CUTS.

Where's Al Gore and his "Lock Box"?

[Fred Sanders]

12. And the media will take that screaming and amplify it a thousand times while silencing any dissent

by merely not mentioning there is any except for the "tax and spend Democratics"....you know it.

[PatrickforO]

10. If they started collecting taxes from these corporations that are

offshoring profits and not paying any income tax, we'd have a big surplus. AND, if we declared peace and got out of all the wars and cut our NSA down to where it belongs, we'd actually be able to use OUR tax dollars for programs that actually benefit US.

[Triana]

25. It could be a much larger surplus WITHOUT austerity. IMO surplus exists in SPITE of austerity

not because of it - for those who are bashing the OP.

Of course Repubs will take credit. They always do, don't they? If you look back at history - FDR, Clinton, Carter - every Dem admin successfully cleaned up an economic mess left by goddamned Repubs. Obama is no exception and austerity or none, this is largely his doing and the surplus might be even larger with no Republican obstruction and no austerity.

That's how I think of it and I'm pretty damn sure I'm right too.

[Fred Sanders]

11. This is truly an incredible achievement, bet the corporate mass media is all over it and giving

credit where credit is due, to President Obama.

And they must be wall to wall crediting Obama for lower gas prices, after they were all blaming him for higher prices just a year ago.

Thank you mass media for reporting on this.........say what?

[MontyPow]

19. Actually it's a horrible achievement.

Or perhaps I should say horribly achieved.

[LostOne4Ever]

14. K&R

Stealing for my FB page!

[Doctor_J]

15. remind me again why this is good?

I thought austerity was a republican talking point. I can't wait to see the celebration when the chained cpi passes.

[MontyPow]

20. Because the Ds did it. That's why it's great.

[SidDithers]

17. DU rec...

And I see the "austerity" talking point has been sent out to the perpetually outraged.

Sid

[MontyPow]

21. So you're a fan of austerity for all but those who can afford it.

Doesn't sound like Democratic principals to me, but then I'm an FDR Democrat so I guess that's just not in vogue anymore.

[SidDithers]

26. ...

Sid

[eridani]

22. Why in the FUCK are we celebrating austerity?

Fuck surpluses--we should have been spending far more in infrastructure and piling on more debt. No wonder so many voters are considering voting Republican. Why would we be proud of a "recovery" that has DECREASED the wages of the 99%, all benefits going to the 1%? Austerity has kept the economy in the shitter for average people, and they are taking it out on Democrats.

[Puzzledtraveller]

23. It's a team sport ya know.

That's why.

[Doctor_J]

24. the party, and with it DU, are completely broken

The only "successes" Obama has had in six years are things that REPUBLICANS usually campaign on. And the fan club jumps up and down and celebrates every one. Then of course they can't understand why millions don't vote.

[Jester Messiah]

27. Absolutely agreed.

Obama is playing the Republicans' game. Now they'll say "if there's a surplus then obviously there's room for more cuts." So much for Obama the chessmaster.

[woo me with science]

36. Thank you.

Good god, what a perversion of what Democrats are supposed to stand for.

[MisterP]

41. they've always been "IMF Democrats"--and the IMF lowered hospital-visit rates

in Tanzania (by making the hospitals charge rather than free, of course!): same logic

(hmm, Tanzania also has the problem of violent rhetoric between two empty conservative parties and ridiculous, cult-leader pols)

[Sunlei]

28. Not paying some war profiteer a billion a year to air condition tents in Iraq adds up fast!!

[Frustratedlady]

32. So, why aren't we hearing this from the Democratic candidates?

Scared to say the name, Obama?

[Triana]

33. That's my guess. They ought to be crowing from rooftops about Obama's many successes...

...and how these are Democratic successes. But they don't. Very unwise, IMO.

I guess we wouldn't want to twist the panties of the centrists eh?

[eridani]

45. They should fucking well NOT be crowing about an austerity policy that may well cost us Congress

Hopefully our GOTV efforts will counteract that, but if not, the blame belongs squarely on the policies that decreased income for the 99%. Political wonks may think this is an accomplishment, but average voters sure don't give a flying fuck about bikini graphs or deficit statistics. All they care about is what is happening in their lives, which is pretty shitty for everyone but the 1%.

[world wide wally]

38. Yep

[TheKentuckian]

35. Yay, we're sucking demand out of the economy but are putting less of Forever War

corporate kickbacks, and infinite surveillance on the credit card!

[woo me with science]

37. Three hundred economists sounded the alarm early in Obama's first term

about how austerity was the WORST possible course of action to take.

That was when we still thought there was a chance of influencing him, those naive days when we still held out hope that he was working for us rather than corporations

[certainot]

39. that will have no effect on most of america- dominated by the republican radio monopoly

that should be votable information in a real democracy but the left and dem party allow the right to run a classic PSYOPS out of 1200 radio stations (republiconradio.org)and control messaging in most states and intimidate and enable a lot of national media.

[jtuck004]

40. I wonder how many black folk don't have jobs because of this? Oh well, there's

always jail.

Keep in mind - one of the only really good opportunities for black folk to get jobs in a country founded on white freedom is government jobs. Democrats running around crowing about lowering the deficit need to know that this also means higher unemployment in black lives, lack of food, medical care, education.

It also means the loss of many things we asked government to do for us in the sciences and statistics, because they have the info or are able to collect it. Things that made our lives better.

If this is what they call good work, they can shove it where the sun don't shine.