Four Corners Media: Overspending

Showing posts with label Overspending. Show all posts

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Spending Money Because It's OPM

Spending Money Because It’s OPM

“I remember when liberals were liberal with their own money” is a quote attributed to Will Rogers. Modern day “spend & tax” liberals, such as President Obama are spending the US taxpayers money without restraint because it is “Other Peoples Money”. We’ll tax other people (especially the rich), because a) they have too much money (class warfare), b) we as liberals (in government) know how to spend it better than you, c) if we don’t have it in the US Treasury now, we’ll just borrow more for taxpayers to pay back later. Former US Senator Bill Armstrong (R-Colorado) stated the appetite for US government spending by Congress this way, “Congress is spending money like a drunken sailor, the trouble is, a sailor is spending his own money!”

Even the moderate to liberal Politico is noting the long term and large spending patterns by the Obama Administration. The federal debt held by the public would still nearly double again from $10.1 trillion at the end of 2011 to $18.8 trillion at the end of 2022. For the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, CBO is now projecting a shortfall of $1.3 trillion. In fiscal 2013, the deficit will still hover near the $1 trillion mark — about $977 billion. And while it will fall to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2017, it then begins to grow again to 3 percent of GDP by 2022.

The Heritage Foundation has an excellent link, with the US government revenues and spending graphically portrayed in easy to understand charts:

http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook

Under the Obama Administration, Federal spending per household jumped from $25,000 per year (per household) to $30,000 per year. It had moderated under a GOP House of Representatives (where the spending bills originate) to $29,401 per household (per year).

The 30-year average tax burden (Federal tax rate) from 1981 to 2010 has been about 18%. The highest average rate was 20% (in year 2000), just prior to President Bush being elected. The projection for the next decade is for average Federal income tax rates to rise from the historical average of 18% to nearly 25%, if Federal spending and taxation are not constrained by Congress and the elected President.

Presently, the lower (bottom half) of US taxpayers only pay 2.7% of the total income taxes collected by Uncle Sam. Whereas the top 5% of income earner (US taxpayers earning over $159,000 per year) are paying nearly 60% of the income taxes collected. The top 1% of income producers (those who create jobs, wealth and economic activity for our country as a whole) are paying 40% of the income taxes collected.

So let’s tax the rich, as per the “class warfare” manta of President Obama! Not so fast. Our history in modern America would suggest the contrary:

“The most dramatic decline in the top individual income tax rate, from 70 percent to 28 percent, occurred during the Reagan Administration, during which tax receipts remained relatively constant as a share of the economy.” Heritage Foundation

http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/income-tax-receipts

And what will be the result of this overspending, over the next 10 years? The Heritage Foundation projects that our US Federal deficit (if spending is unchecked) will reach 100% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2022. Then it is “Hello Greece, or Portugal or Italy”! http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/national-debt-skyrocket

What can we do? Tell Congress to stop the US government overspending. Back the Paul Ryan budget bills and policy changes. Vote for fiscal conservatives, who have voting records that actually show “stop the brutal spending” votes. President Obama’s budget numbers show the US debt as a percentage of GDP rising from 40.3% to to 87.4% from 2008 to 2020. Sit back and go with the “wasteful spending money” flow, and we’ll watch our beloved America go broke. Or stand up, and vote the "over spenders" out of office. Here’s the whole set of charts:

http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/contents

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Overspending Swells Federal Deficit in April 2009

What does massive government spending by the US government result it? The inability to even show a monthly surplus in April, the historical high point of tax collections during the fiscal year (October through September), reflects the out of control spending by the Federal Government. In fact the US treasury has not shown a negative monthly gap in April (spending vs. taxes collected) since 1983. Thanks to the ongoing economic downturn, combined to massive Federal spending authorized by Congress, first April monthly shortfall in 26 years was experienced in Washington DC. President Obama and the Congress Democrats appear to be determined to spend money US government doesn’t have, to fund programs we don’t need, that will cause increased taxes we don’t want.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States posted its first April deficit in 26 years, a record $20.91 billion shortfall as a deep recession caused revenues to collapse in the year's biggest tax collection month, the U.S. Treasury said on Tuesday.

The deficit, the first for April since a $3.3 billion gap in 1983 as the country emerged from a deep recession, was largely in line with forecasts from Wall Street economists polled by Reuters. It brought the deficit for the first seven months of fiscal 2009 to a record $802.29 billion after a major positive accounting adjustment for the government's bailout investments.

Receipts for April, normally the year's biggest revenue month due to the April 15 deadline for federal income tax filing, fell to $266.23 billion from $403.75 billion in April 2008. Both individual and corporate income tax payments fell sharply from a year earlier. But outlays set another April record, rising to $287.14 billion from $244.47 billion a year earlier. www.reuters.com

Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Other (GOP) Federal Budget

The Democrat Majority in the US House and US Senate passed the US Federal FY2010 budget, without one Republican member voting for it, and 20 “blue dog Democrats” voting against it. $3.6 Trillion of largess, earmarks (8,500 of them), increased social spending and decreased military spending. And a structural deficit in the US budget due to overspending by Congress of will be laid at the feet of our children and their children. And, despite promises of only “taxing the rich”, over time the Congress will raise taxes on all American’s, just to cover the new government programs, spending and interest on debt.

So what was alternative budget to the massive Democrat Federal budget, as put forth by the Republicans?

Answering President Obama's challenge for critics to present alternatives, the House Republicans have offered a responsible budget blueprint that:

+Borrows $3.6 trillion less than the President's budget;

+Would create $23,000 less debt per household than the President's budget;

+Keeps federal spending just above 20 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP)—the same level as before the recession;

+Avoids all tax increases and even simplifies the overly complex tax code;

+Includes a temporary moratorium on earmarks; and

+Begins reforming the unsustainable costs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm2377.cfm

The House Republican alternative rejects all tax increases. It would permanently extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as well as the AMT patch. It would also finally reform the complex income tax code by allowing individuals the choice of opting into a simplified tax system with a 10 percent marginal tax rate on incomes below $100,000 and a 25 percent marginal tax rate on incomes above $100,000. It would also encourage economic growth by reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent and suspending capital gains taxes through 2010. From the Heritage Foundation www.heritage.org

Let’s compare the sensible Republican alternative (that unfortunately was defeated by the Democrat majority in the US House in early April 2009) to what is being predicted by the Heritage Foundation of the US tax system in heading higher and by 2050 will be like the high tax countries in Europe:

According to the CBO’s long-run forecast in December 2005, federal taxes under current law will rise from 18.3 percent of GDP to nearly 19 percent within five years and reach almost 24 percent of GDP by 2050. This means that the federal tax burden on Americans, as a proportion of income, will increase by almost one-fourth. When state and local taxes are included, the U.S. tax burden will be comparable to the burden in today’s slow-growth Europe.

From the Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg1957.cfm

So while the Dems in Congress are claming to be moving to Pay-Go (paying for government programs as you go), what is really happening with a $3.6 Trillion budget and projected $1 Trillion deficits per year is this:

Expand US Government programs by spending money we don’t have, so we’ll borrow it from the rest of the world, to spend it on programs that expand the cost, scope and reach of government, which in turn will raise the public debt and desperate politicians in Congress looking to increase taxes on all Americans to pay for it.

Thus, we are heading towards being more like the country of Greece, whose debt as a country is forecast to exceed 100% of its Gross Domestic Product (the US public debt is $6.4 Trillion, which is about 42% of the US GDP). Greece’s financial problem is that their biggest economic burden is interest on their public debt. And Greece has been remanded by the European Commission to keep their continued deficit spending below 3% of GDP. The US budget deficit (just from the official FY 2010 budget) is 1.2 Trillion, or 8% of the US GDP. However, it is now projected at $1.8 Trillion, which is 12% of US GDP. No wonder France and Germany are lecturing the US on overspending, deficits and reining in government spending.

So where is Greece today? At a standstill, as a nationwide public strike over public sector pay and job losses has brought the country to a standstill Wall Street Journal, Page A11, April 3, 2009 As for a public stimulus by the Greek government? They can’t, as they ran out of money and the EU mandated “3% of GDP budget deficit spending cap” precludes the government from spending money.

Does the US want to become a permanent debtor nation, weakened by financial irresponsibility in Congress due to overspending, overreaching government programs and higher taxes? Under Obama and the Democrats in Congress, the US becoming subject to those countries, banks and individuals who hold US debt and leverage over us. Is that what a free, financially responsible and independent America should be doing? For more and more Americans, the answer is No!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Red Ink Forever

It’s official. The proposed Obama Federal budget will generate red ink and the US Government deficit will increase every year during the new President’s term. In fact the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts US Federal deficits of $1 Trillion per year over the next decade. The complete CBO report is linked here

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10014/03-20-PresidentBudget.pdf

The national debt is now $11 Trillion and counting. With another decade of spend and tax being proposed by Obama Administration and being supported by the majority Democrats in the Congress, the colossal national debt could double in 10 years to over $20,000,000,000,000! Here is a direct link for more on the deficit:

http://www.federalbudget.com/

According to the CBO, as report by the Associated Press www.ap.org President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last month. The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget. Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy; figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

The AP also reports that conservative “Blue Dog Democrats” are questioning the larger that life spending proposed by President Obama:

WASHINGTON (www.ap.org ) — “Conservative and moderate Democrats are flexing their muscles on Capitol Hill, demanding significantly lower spending for domestic programs as well as automatic budget cuts if tax cuts and new programs would increase the deficit.

A group of 51 so-called "Blue Dog" House Democrats released their roster of budget demands Thursday, calling for cutting more than $40 billion from domestic programs funded by Congress each year.”

In the Hill on-line version www.thehill.com concerns about the ballooning deficit all even alarming the Democrat majority, “The deficit level, which Obama expected to be 12 percent of gross domestic product this year, would fall to approximately 3 percent of GDP in 2013 and beyond under the president's policies. But the CBO estimated deficits in those years to be much larger, between 4 percent and 6 percent of economic growth. The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) director Orszag said that a deficit that amounted to 5 percent of GDP would be "unsustainable."

The top Republican on the House budget committee Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), said that the new projections show that Obama's budget "will lead our nation into a far worse fiscal catastrophe" than the White House's own numbers suggested.

Janet Hook, in the March 20^th LA Times www.latimes.com reports: “That bad (deficit) news, combined with other recent developments, portends a rocky road for the Obama budget, which was initially hailed by congressional Democrats for promoting such liberal priorities as expanded access to health insurance and curbs on global warming.

In the three weeks since the budget was unveiled, fiscally conservative Democrats have raised concerns about proposed spending increases. Leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees have criticized some of Obama's proposed tax increases on wealthier Americans. And influential Democrats are backing away from using a legislative shortcut that may be Obama's best hope for passing his far-reaching health and energy policies.

An additional multibillion-dollar bailout for banks and other financial institutions, which the administration will soon propose, is expected to add more pressure to the federal government's finances. Into that tinderbox, a lit match has come from new deficit estimates. Where Obama's budget foresees rolling up $7 trillion in cumulative deficits over the next 10 years, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) on Thursday pegged the deficits at $1.6 trillion higher over that period.” www.latimes.com

As the FY 2010 budget debate begins on Capitol Hill, the majority Democrats in Congress are faced with the reality that the Obama budget is overspending and over committing the Federal government to programs that cannot be sustained, even if taxes on all of Americans are dramatically raised. And while the President is only beginning his term, a number of US Senators and all the House members face an increasingly skeptical and angry electorate in November 2010. It is becoming increasingly clear that for the majority in Congress to continue to blaming others, each other and past Administrations, will not fly with the US taxpayers. The November 2010 election may be the last chance to vote out the big spenders in Washington. In the meantime, it is clear that the big spender in the White House, who doesn’t stand for election until 2012, won’t use the Obama veto pen on earmarks, pork, overspending or tax increases.

For more details on the US Federal budget, click through to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget

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