Les, there are two issues here, the first is "Is the Government lying" about budget surpluses, the second are those surpluses creating excess liquidity by reducing the size of the debt in public hands (a total of $273 billion in the last 30 months, and $120 Billion in the last six month). The first question is "politics", so I will not get involved in it. The second question is "politics" free, and whether or not there are fluctuations due to timing of tax receipts, the fact re,ains that for a long period (30 months now), in lieu of soaking liquidity from the market, the government is buying back some of the debt that is in public hands.
By the way, as far as the "health of the budget, for an outfit (the government) that does not "take" depreciation on its assets, any positive cash flow should be considered an "achievement".
Zeev |
