Budget deficit to break $1 trillion despite strong economy
Interesting, it's like those tax cuts for the wealthy/corporations aren't paying for themselves with increased revenue. It's almost like people took all the money and just used it to buy back stock/buy more shares and inflate the stock market bubble more. Meanwhile they tell us all that we'll just have to make do without SS/medicare, and work until we're 70+. Hmmm. The GOP vision for this country is basically pure evil, they want to give more and more to the wealthy and then blame our social programs for the debt. Then they cut the social programs, extend working years, and people need to work for the wealthy like slaves till we're too old to enjoy life.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/budget-deficit-break-1-trillion-190638350.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — An annual congressional report says the U.S. budget deficit is likely to burst through the symbolic $1 trillion barrier this year despite a healthy economy.
Tuesday's Congressional Budget Office report follows a burst of new spending last year and the repeal in December of several taxes used to help finance the Affordable Care Act. Those have combined to deepen the government's deficit spiral well on into the future, with trillion-dollar deficits likely for as far as the eye can see.
The annual CBO update of the government's economic and fiscal health estimates a $1 trillion deficit for the ongoing fiscal year, which would bring the red ink above $1 trillion for the first time since 2012, when former President Barack Obama capped four consecutive years of $1 trillion-plus budget deficits. The government, slated to spend $4.6 trillion this year, would have to borrow 22 cents of every dollar it spends.
Most economists say the most relevant way to look at the deficit is to measure it against the size of the economy, with deficits at 3 percent or so of gross domestic product seen as sustainable. The latest report shows deficits averaging 4.8 percent of GDP over the course of the coming decade.
“As a result of those deficits, federal debt would rise each year, reaching a percentage of the nation's output that is unprecedented in U.S. history," the CBO report says.
Obama's deficits came as the U.S. economy recovered from the deep recession of 2007-2009. The return of trillion-dollar deficit now comes as the economy is humming on all cylinders, with the CBO predicting that the jobless rate nationwide will average below 4 percent through at least 2022. The growth rate is predicted to hit average 2.2 percent this year.
“The economy's performance makes the large and growing deficit all the more noteworthy,” said CBO Director Phillip Swagel. “Changes in fiscal policy must be made to address the budget situation, because our debt is growing on an unsustainable path.”
The government reported a $984 billion deficit for the 2019 budget year. Cumulative deficits over the coming decade are expected to total $13 trillion — a total that would have gone higher save for CBO's belief that yields on Treasury notes will remain unusually low as the government refinances its $23 trillion debt.
The recent surge in the deficit has followed passage of the 2017 Trump tax bill, which has failed to pay for itself with additional economic growth and revenues as promised by administration figures like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The surge in deficits also follows a final rewrite last summer of a failed 2011 budget deal to increase spending of both defense and domestic programs.
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