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General discussion

U.S. National Debt Hits Record $7 Trillion

Feb 18, 2004 6:38AM PST

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In its daily financial statement released on Wednesday, the Treasury said the U.S. debt subject to a Congressionally set limit totaled $7.015 trillion, up from $6.983 trillion on Friday. The government was closed on Monday for the Presidents Day holiday

Man, that's a chunk of change!

Discussion is locked

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Re: U.S. National Debt Hits Record $7 Trillion
Feb 18, 2004 12:22PM PST

Hey, Rosalie.

Get with the program -- according to bush/Cheney, "What, us worry? Deficits don't matter!"

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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LOL, I guess not. All they have to do is just ......
Feb 18, 2004 12:42PM PST

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wait for a Democrat to come along and fix their mess.

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Re: LOL, I guess not. All they have to do is just ......
Feb 18, 2004 9:35PM PST

Hi, Rosalie.

Ironic that they consider themselves the party of "fiscal responsibility," but the two biggest periods of deficit spending came under Reagan and Bush...

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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Might be interesting, Rosalie...
Feb 18, 2004 10:20PM PST

Rosalie, that might be interesting. 14 Billion here, 14 Billion there (thinking of Boston's "Big Dig").
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel cost 200 Million for a comparison.
Hummm, Boston is in Massachusetts, Kerry's state. Come to think of it, doesn't he live in Boston?

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J, I was thinking along the lines of this.....
Feb 18, 2004 11:48PM PST

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The last balanced federal budget was in fiscal 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War. Despite huge military outlays, Lyndon Johnson managed to balance his swan-song budget by increasing taxes enough to pay for spending.

Source Of The Deficit

That achievement was quickly reversed under Richard Nixon and his successor, Gerald Ford. The Nixon-Ford era saw a major shift in spending priorities away from defense and into domestic programs (this didn't happen in the sixties under Johnson, as is sometimes asserted). But it also saw major reductions in taxes--largely from expanded corporate loopholes. As a result, the annual deficit jumped to 2.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by the time President Ford left office in 1977. (Even so, the total national debt fell slightly as a share of the growing GDP.)

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Here an article written in the year 2000. Isn't it fun to compare what was predicted and what actually happened? The best laid plans of mice and men ........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/budget/budget.htm


Why It Matters

The effects of nearly three decades of deficit spending are certainly easy to feel, even if citizens don't see the connection between the federal budget and their own.

When the government spends more than it takes in, it borrows money to make up the difference. Government borrowing raises interest rates, increasing the cost of student loans, car payments and mortgages. It also makes it harder for businesses to borrow money to expand.

Cutting government spending has consequences, too. Many people depend on government services, such as the giant Medicaid and Medicare health programs. And many businesses depend on government contracts. Cutting taxes, on the other hand, may increase government red ink, but it also increases the amount people have to spend, boosting the economy ? which ultimately fills the federal coffers.
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With all the cutting, increasing and spending to stay ahead of the wolf who's to know what's really best for the future?

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Re:LOL, I guess not. All they have to do is just ......
Feb 19, 2004 2:00AM PST

The deficit is a result of having to fix the messes of the last administration as well as the necessary and extraordinary spending caused by the attacks on
Sept 11.

I will agree that it needent be as large as it is because Bush should have cut or eliminated much of the unnecessary but "nice" social spending.

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There's another one...
Feb 19, 2004 5:39PM PST

I saw Dave's explanation just now saying that his using a small "b" in the name of Bush while other names started with a capitol letter was just a slip of the shift key. Son of a gun, there's another "slip", the second one I have found in reasonably short order after that explanation.

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Re:U.S. National Debt Hits Record $7 Trillion
Feb 18, 2004 9:50PM PST

And as the deep pockets of the tax payers get shorter due to their being unemployed or under employed, I only see it getting worse. I am always told that I must look at the big picture (the global economy). But I have yet to see any benefits from this "global"
transition, aiding displaced workers in the USA.This is not to knock other countries, as I'm sure many of them have suffered also. It is just that it is very difficult to look at the "Long Run" which is not a guarantee and see so many families having to settle for so much less

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Having to do with less doesn't bother me as much as leaving less ...
Feb 18, 2004 10:15PM PST

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for future generations. If each generation does not leave the world in better shape for the next, than what have we accomplished? I've told my children they have no idea what's it like to be poor. They may get a chance to find out.

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Re:Having to do with less doesn't bother me as much as leaving less ...
Feb 19, 2004 1:02AM PST

and if our $ gets worth less we wont have to worry about terrorists. the sheiks will just buy us and get it over with!

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Dollar is at a near record low 0.788 Euros. -nt
Feb 19, 2004 3:15AM PST

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