TP-Dare to be Stupid part three
The size of the deficit. To hear the Democrats describe it, the projected deficit under the Bush Budget is the biggest, most devastating deficit in the history of this country. This morning’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution is referring to the Bush deficit as a “record.” The truth is, it just ain’t so.
Consider your own family budget. Let’s say that your monthly bills exceed your monthly income by $200. You’re running a $200 per month deficit. That amounts to $2,400 a year. Now that’s pretty serious, isn’t it?
The truth is you can’t judge the seriousness of the situation until you have more figures. The best way to judge the seriousness of this deficit is to find out just how big it is in terms of a percentage of your total monthly or annual spending. If your entire budget is $1,000 a month or $12,000 a year, then you have a bit of a problem. Your deficit is $2,400 a year, or 20% of your budget. Not good. But what if your monthly budget is, say, $7,400, or $88,800 a year. Now your $200 deficit would amount, in percentage terms, to a deficit of 2.7% of your monthly or annual. That doesn’t sound quite as bad, does it? That, my friends, in terms of percentage, is the very deficit that is projected in the Bush budget.
Now --- is this deficit a bank buster? Is this an all-time high? Hardly. Here’s a handy little chart for you. It shows the year, the amount of the budget deficit, and the percentage of the total budget represented by that deficit.
Year Amount of Deficit Percentage of Total Federal Budget
2004 $307 Billion 2.7%
1992 $290 Billion 4.7%
1983 $207 Billion 6.0%
Do you see what I see? The proposed Bush deficit that the Democrats are describing as “huge” is actually about one-half of the deficit of the 1990’s and less than one-half the deficit of the ‘80’s. Where’s the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s elusive “record” deficit? Try 1983!
Now … we wiped out that 1992 deficit not with tax increases but with the incredible technology dot com economic expansion. We killed off a 4.7% deficit. How hard can it be to eliminate a 2.7% deficit with a little economic expansion?
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