I Wish I Could Capture Screen Shots
Before the AP changes this story! They report it completely straight for the first time I can recall. The Federal budget deficit has shrunk to the lowest level in four years due to surging tax revenues that far outpace increases in spending. The tax revenue increase came about because of the rapidly growing economy. Ap actually says all that, no kidding.
The deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was 22 percent lower than the $318.7 billion imbalance for 2005, handing President Bush an economic bragging point as Republicans go into the final four weeks of a battle for control of Congress.
Both spending and tax revenues climbed to all-time highs. The sharp narrowing of the deficit reflected the fact that revenues climbed by 11.7 percent, outpacing the 7.3 percent increase in spending.
The 2006 deficit was far lower than the $423 billion figure the administration had projected last February and also represented an improvement from a July revised estimate of $295.8 billion.
It was the smallest deficit since a $159 billion imbalance in 2002, a shortfall that came after four straight years of budget surpluses, the longest stretch that the government had finished in seven decades.
Since that time, the government has recorded three of the biggest deficits in history in dollar terms including an all-time record of $413 billion in 2004.
The reason for the improvement this year was the big jump in revenues, propelled by strong economic strongth.
The economy is doing astonishingly well. Somebody take a screen shot.
By Dan, Wednesday, 11 October , 2006 @ 10:03 am
Hmm…so the debt is not as bad as it was last year. So the President is doing what he should be doing, even though it’s his own debt he’s lowering…
Yeah…uhh…congratulations.
By Black Jack, Wednesday, 11 October , 2006 @ 11:22 am
Anything that’s good for America is bad for Democrats.
GWB lowers taxes and the economy booms, the Dow hits an all-time high, jobs are created, unemployment drops, tax revenues increase, and the deficit is cut in half 3 years ahead of expectations. All this in the face of the Clinton recession, the dot.com bust, and the 9/11 attacks.
Let’s hear it for George W Bush, our Commander in Chief, a great and honorable man, the guy who put America back on the track to prosperity.
By Dan, Wednesday, 11 October , 2006 @ 11:54 am
Oh man…my shoulder hurts. I just fell out of my chair from laughing at Black Jack’s joke.
If only every President was so smart as to create a whole mountain of problems he could then get credit for solving. Ingenius.
By Bleepless, Wednesday, 11 October , 2006 @ 7:12 pm
You probably can capture screen shots. Try this: “Awright, Shot! Hands up and face the wall!”