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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steeny who wrote (12562)	2/25/2003 1:34:17 AM
From: James Calladine	Respond to of 25898

washingtonpost.com U.S. Deficit Hits $97B in First 4 Months By JEANNINE AVERSA The Associated Press Monday, February 24, 2003; 10:42 PM The government has run up a deficit of $97.6 billion in the first four months of the 2003 budget year, a reversal from the corresponding period last year when a small surplus was produced. The latest budget figures, released Monday by the Treasury Department, highlighted the government's deteriorating fiscal situation, where record high budget deficits are forecast this year and next. The whopping deficit posted from the beginning of the 2003 fiscal year in October through January, the most recent month available, stood in stark contrast to the $8.4 billion surplus posted for that period last year. Revenues are down by 8.1 percent this budget year from last year, to $615.3 billion, which reflects in part lower tax revenues from the sagging economy. Individual income tax payments totaled $306.5 billion, a 9.4 percent drop from last year. Corporate tax payments plunged by 47.4 percent to $34.2 billion. Spending for the first four months of the 2003 budget year totaled $712.9 billion, representing a 7.8 percent increase from the corresponding period in 2002. The biggest spending categories so far this budget year were: programs of the Health and Human Services Department, including Medicare and Medicaid, $169.9 billion; Social Security, $168.4 billion; interest on the public debt, $131.4 billion; and military, $123.4 billion. For the entire 2002 budget year, which ended Sept. 30, the government ran up a deficit of $157.8 billion, ending four consecutive years of surpluses. The Bush administration is projecting record budget deficits of $304 billion this year and $307 billion next year. Those projections factor in President Bush's proposed economic stimulus package, which consists mostly of tax cuts, but does not include outlays related to possible war with Iraq. The administration has blamed the return of deficits on lingering effects of the 2001 recession and the costs of waging war in Afghanistan and battling terrorism at home. Democrats say a major cause of the red ink has been Bush's 10-year $1.35 trillion tax cut and what they contend are bad economic policies being pursued by the administration. In January, the government produced a surplus of $11.1 billion, compared with a $43.7 billion bounty registered in the same month last year. Still, January's surplus - based on revenues of $187.9 billion and spending of $176.8 billion - was slightly larger than the $10 billion surplus both the Congressional Budget Office and private economists had predicted for the month. --- On the Net: Treasury Department: ustreas.gov

To: Steeny who wrote (12562)	2/25/2003 1:43:23 AM
From: Just_Observing	Respond to of 25898

Not everyone who supports the forced removal of Hussein is a rightwing zealot Hey, I am all for the removal of Saddam and his trial. And I was twenty years ago when he started using gas. But of course, Rumsfeld was busy embracing him then as he killed 600,000 Iranians. It is said that our justice system should be such that 99 go free lest one be found guilty falsely. I cannot support the killing of hundreds of thousands to get one guy. Besides, we helped create Saddam. We should bring justice to Saddam and those who created him. But without war and the injustice of 500,000 casualties (UN estimates)