http://au.biz.yahoo.com
Can't bother to click the link? Here's the short and scary version:
The US government posted a $US159.3 billion surplus in April, helped by the mid-month deadline for individuals meeting 2007 tax obligations, but it was down from the prior year's surplus, the Treasury Department reported on Monday.
In April 2007, the surplus was $US177.7 billion.
In the first seven months of fiscal 2008, which ends on September 30, the government's budget deficit swelled by 88.4 per cent to $US152.2 billion, from $US80.8 billion in the first seven months of fiscal 2007.
The latest figures point to growing strain on the budget, which is poised to face a deeper deficit as payments under an economic stimulus program agreed by Congress and the Bush administration get into full swing.
The Congressional Budget Office forecast in March that the fiscal 2008 deficit likely will hit $US396 billion. Defence spending keeps climbing as the administration seeks more funds for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Which I guess proves that Republicans aren't anti-big government after all. That's just the excuse they use to give the money to the Pentagon rather than to something else. And while they're forking that money over to "defense" they're simultaneously handing all of us checks! It's nice to live in a consequence-free environment, isn't it? Where you can keep spending money, giving it "back" to the people, and then leave the mess for the next President to clean up. And it's nice to know that, even in the midst of a two-front war, the folks back home are not only sacrificing exactly NOTHING, we're ahead 1500 bucks!
God Bless America.
2 comments:
Once again, I give you the smartest blogger ever award. If I were only creative enough to actually fashion one.
You keep me informed. I read you before I watch the "news." That way I actually learn something relevant every day.
I'm less concerned about the mess the next president gets and more concerned about the mess the next generation will be inheriting.
That, by far, seems to be the larger and more pressing of the two.
This concerns me largely because my own country's leaders are now looking to Bush's glowing example on how to run a country (into the ground), and we're seeing an unprecedented increase in defense-sector spending.
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