Quote:
Originally Posted by dogzilla
Actually, it was $300 million, and was, as you point out, never funded, so net cost to the taxpayers for that was $0.00. Why does what Bush did or didn't do make Obama's rebate any more appropriate? The government shouldn't be doing things like this at all at least until it gets it's finances under control.
This is just another instance of taking money we don't have (borrowing) from the taxpayers for another government giveaway.
---------- Post added at 07:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:04 PM ----------
Not yet.
---------- Post added at 07:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 PM ----------
Fair enough. We should not have paid that either.
The key phrase here is 'so far'. There's still quite a lot of money outstanding and I don't think profits should be counted before they are in hand. I've been reading a bit about problems with commercial real estate loans and adjustable rate mortgages in the next couple years, and it will be interesting to see how taht affects banks, etc.
Besides which, the government shouldn't be in the business or running profit-making enterprises either.
Once again, Bush shouldn't have done it either. But Bush doing it doesn't make it any more acceptable now.
According to the table below, the federal debt for 2009 is 90% of GDP and projected at 98% of GDP for 2010 The only time it was higher was the early 1940's for extraordinary reasons. Back in the 1950's and 1960's we had a fairly robust industrial base to finance the debt. Now, from what I'm reading, maybe not so robust.
US Federal Debt As Percent Of GDP in United States 1792-2010 - Federal State Local |
Nothing I said was meant to defend Obama or attack Bush. The point remains that neither deficits nor debt are at all time highs. And while that graph you showed is technically correct, about 30.4% of that debt is actually held by the government itself. The debt that matters, in terms of repayment, is the debt held by the public. And that, while increasing, should reach about 59.9% of GDP this year, a little more than half what it was in 1946.
And you want to know why the debt and the deficit are increasing?
Because tax receipts as a percentage of GDP will be at their lowest point since 1950.
So I think its funny how people are so bent out of shape about their tax money, when in fact they are paying the least taxes in a generation.
The bail out and stimulus money are drops in the bucket, and the real long term issue regarding the deficits is that people complain so much about their taxes and yet want their medicare, their social security and their military in place.
Data found on
Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2010