US Gov. Receipts - $1 Trillion
US Gov. Outlays - $1.8 Trillion
Overall US taxes would need to increase 80% on average to close the deficit. This is an incredibly large - and totally unworkable - amount.
@Noreen quoted Governor Chris Christie "it will bankrupt us morally.." And I agree. It's easier to be honest if the pot-of-gold that government is giving (or taking) is small.
Re: Growing deficits
tokyogai
4/17/2012 9:18:44 AM
These numbers would seem to argue that we have leveled off and are maybe showing a very small improvement. I think we need to do something more drastic to make a real dent in the debt.
Interested in comparing federal revenues and outlays? Well, here is your chance...
| Receipts |
2012 YTD |
2011 YTD |
| Individual Income Taxes |
484,143 |
475,598 |
| Corporation Income Taxes. |
84,537 |
55,081 |
| Social Insurance and Retirement Receipts: |
|
|
| Employment and General Retirement . |
372,358 |
371,388 |
| Unemployment Insurance . |
20,062 |
16,053 |
| Other Retirement ... |
1,884 |
2,016 |
| Excise Taxes . |
34,779 |
33,032 |
| Estate and Gift Taxes . |
6,157 |
175 |
| Customs Duties |
14,564 |
14,119 |
| Miscellaneous Receipts .. |
45,901 |
52,434 |
| Total |
1,064,384 |
1,019,896 |
|
|
|
| Net Outlays |
|
|
| National Defense |
350,245 |
357,498 |
| International Affairs. |
24,272 |
20,308 |
| General Science, Space, and Technology ... |
13,841 |
14,476 |
| Energy ... |
7,219 |
6,608 |
| Natural Resources and Environment ... |
19,579 |
22,489 |
| Agriculture .. |
15,760 |
17,266 |
| Commerce and Housing Credit |
36,274 |
-194 |
| Transportation |
44,159 |
44,251 |
| Community and Regional Development... |
14,914 |
11,518 |
| Education, Training, Employment and Social Services . |
54,446 |
72,609 |
| Health |
170,509 |
194,309 |
| Medicare |
232,854 |
226,667 |
| Income Security .. |
310,213 |
336,110 |
| Social Security |
378,100 |
359,716 |
| Veterans Benefits and Services ... |
64,832 |
60,827 |
| Administration of Justice |
28,190 |
28,659 |
| General Government . |
11,317 |
10,282 |
| Net Interest . |
121,712 |
116,341 |
| Undistributed Offsetting Receipts . |
-55,066 |
-50,424 |
| Total |
1,843,372 |
1,849,315 |
One of the many reasons for the fast growing national debt, analysts concur, is the growing social welfare state in America.
Economist Ed Yardeni recently noted:
- From 1993 through 2010, outlays per beneficiary for Social Security and Medicare more than doubled from $10,459 to $22,319. Over this same period, total wages and salaries in compensation and nominal GDP did about the same. Because Americans are living longer, the number of Social Security beneficiaries rose 88% over this period, and will increase at a faster rate as the Baby Boomers now start to retire.
- The number of people claiming disability has soared. It rose to a record 8.7 million during March, doubling since February 1997. Over this period, their numbers have increased by 4.3 million. This helps to explain some of the drop in the labor force participation rate, which fell from 66.9% to 63.8% over this period
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, you may have heard, blames the deficit on the fact politicians just want to be loved.
In a speech last week at the George W. Bush Institute Conference on Taxes and Economic Growth in Manhattan, he noted, "I think politicians get themselves into the biggest trouble when they care more about being loved than being respected
"That's why we run up these deficits we run up. That's why we can't say no to anything, because we care too much about being loved."
So basically, politicians show their love for the voters by running huge deficits and the voters return the love by voting for them. Christie warns the result has been nbsp;a "paternalistic entitlement society" with "a bunch of people sitting on a couch, waiting for their next government check" -- something he expects "will not just bankrupt us financially, it will bankrupt us morally..."
It's amazing that with what's going on in Europe, people continue to ignore the effect of large amounts of public debt!
things don't appear to be improving rapidly
@Scott, you are the master of understatement - no, things do NOT appear to be improving at all. Part of the problem is that most people glaze over when we're talking about hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars.
I like the way that Lenore charactorized this in her recent post about how today's economy is not like 1998 - for one thing the currrent federal deficit is 9% of our total GDP. 9% !@@!
| |
1998 |
2012 |
| Federal government spending |
Relatively controlled with a surplus of 0.7% of GDP |
The highest percentage of GDP in history outside of a world war with a projected budget deficit nearing 9% of GDP |
It's no wonder we're on a path that may hit the new deficit ceiling around the end of the year - 9% of GDP is eye-popping huge.
PC
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