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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arthur Radley who wrote (274351)	7/12/2002 8:21:39 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Reuters Market News Bush forecasts 56 percent surge in 2002 US deficit By Adam Entous WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - The Bush administration said on Friday the federal government would post a deficit of $165 billion this fiscal year, a 56 percent increase over earlier projections reflecting a dramatic drop in tax revenues as the stock market has plunged. Conceding it was caught off guard by the steepest decline in receipts since 1955, the administration said it may develop new budgetary models aimed at projecting the impact of stock movements on capital gains and other tax revenues. "We have no model at this time, and it will be very difficult, I know, to produce one, but we need to try to understand this phenomenon better," said White House budget director Mitch Daniels. While the White House revised upward its 2002 economic growth forecast to 2.6 percent from 0.7 percent and projected a return to surpluses in fiscal 2005, rising deficits in the near term could hurt President George W. Bush and his fellow Republicans in upcoming elections, where small swings could shift control of both the House of Representatives and Senate. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, called the deficit numbers "a disaster." Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, accused the White House of "hiding deficits and debt" like the companies engulfed in a wave of accounting scandals. "They (White House officials) have now wandered off to fantasy land and are seriously understating the deficits and build-up in debt that we are facing," Conrad said. 'HOW MUCH WORSE?' Rep. John Spratt, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, asked: "How much worse will these figures have to get before the administration recognizes that its budget is at the source of the problem and there is no easy glide-path back to a balanced budget?" At $165 billion, the projected deficit for fiscal 2002 ending on Sept. 30, would be the largest since fiscal 1994. The federal government posted a $127 billion surplus last year. "The president deals with the cards that were dealt him," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, citing the recession and costs of the war on terrorism as the reason for the plunge into deficits for the first time in five years. Officials said a major factor in the bigger deficits was the decline in tax receipts from capital gains -- a finding that could increase pressure on the president to play a more active role in seeking to shore up the stock market. Capital gains taxes are generally collected from individuals when assets are sold at a profit. As stock values dropped this year, many investors racked up losses or held onto their shares. As a result, the government collected less. The White House said it expected total tax receipts in 2002 to drop by $124 billion, or 6 percent, from 2001 levels. The last time revenues fell at that rate was 1955. "This is due almost entirely to stock market related income," Daniels said. "No one, as far as I know, really saw this coming." BUSH'S MARKS SLIPPING Bush is already under heavy fire from Democrats for failing to respond forcefully enough to a wave of accounting scandals that have sent the stock market tumbling to lows not seen since 1997. While polls show the president's overall approval ratings remain high, his marks for handling the economy have slipped. If public confidence in the economy continues to waver in the run-up to the November congressional elections, analysts said it would be a huge boost for Democrats, who blame the reemergence of deficits on Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut. Republicans counter that the tax cut helped the United States recover from the twin shocks of a recession and the Sept. 11 attacks. They blame a surge in government spending advocated by Democrats, not lower taxes, for the red ink. The $165 billion shortfall for fiscal 2002 was revised up from the $106 billion deficit forecast by Bush in February. Senate Republicans expect a deficit of $152 billion in 2002. The White House believes the shortfall in 2003 will run to $109 billion, up from the $80 billion deficit projected in February. In contrast, Senate Republicans expect the deficit to climb to $194 billion in 2003. The deficit in 2004 would fall to $48 billion, according to the OMB's mid-year budget review. The OMB said it expected a $53 billion surplus in 2005 and beyond, assuming Democrats who currently control the Senate stick to the administration's proposed spending levels. The Bush White House is not the first to underestimate the impact of capital gains receipts on federal budgeting. Former President Bill Clinton's projections often missed the mark. But in contrast to Bush, Clinton underestimated the capital gains windfall as the stock market set record highs. "It's now very clear that the explosion in revenue to the federal government between '95 and 2000...was more closely tied to the stock market run-up than was thought at the time. And now we're seeing the mirror-image effect," Daniels said. This means any return to surpluses could depend on Bush's efforts to restore investor confidence. Bush will discuss the economy on Monday, but Fleischer dismissed suggestions he would "give speeches to impact the market on a day by day basis." THIS IS GONNA CAP THE PREZ HIGH MARKS ..... and INSURE his fall from grace.....he's toasting CC

To: Arthur Radley who wrote (274351)	7/12/2002 11:15:31 PM
From: RON BL	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Hey compare the voting map. The vast majority of the crime in this country is where the Democrats reign. You don't want to walk down that avenue of debate. Stick to bashing Bush. In my opinion Bush is not worth defending. I could never understand why you libs defended Clinton as if liberalism was tied to his success or failure. GW in my opinion is just another wealthy politician and the new conservatism which is tolerant of religion open to change and based on fiscally sound principles is probably not in his scope of belief. He is a one world type just like his father and BIll CLinton.