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To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (179456)	7/12/2002 2:07:46 PM
From: Win-Lose-Draw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Haim, that is 1.5% of GDP only if you follow the pro forma budget that ignores things like Social Security and any number of unfunded (ie reserveless) liabilities. Looking only at SS you'd have to add another 50% or so which puts the US in the same ballpark as the leading EZ nations. It is entirely possible that EZ is also cooking the books and their numbers also need inflating, if anybody has information on this I would love to hear it.

To: Haim R. Branisteanu who wrote (179456)	7/12/2002 2:08:33 PM
From: SouthFloridaGuy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

<<US is relative in an acceptable shape......... after all it is all relative>> You're talking in the present tense, the markets look at the future. Your implicit assumption is it doesn't get worse in the US. After all these are still estimates. 1 year ago they were changing from record surplus to small surplus to slight deficit. Gov't spending still increasing at 4%/yr. Tax Revenues falling after largest tax bonanza ever (unlike Germany, France, Italy). Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.