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

To: Neocon who wrote (427103)	7/15/2003 3:42:35 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Maybe.... but with the Naz 100 index trading at a trailing P/E of 240... and a projected 2004 P/E of 38, I have my doubts.

To: Neocon who wrote (427103)	7/15/2003 3:43:34 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

White House defends rising deficit Report: OMB sees $455 billion deficit in fiscal 2003 By William L. Watts, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 11:52 AM ET July 15, 2003 cbs.marketwatch.com{9189AF6D-5D93-4FBD-80E7-34ED43A99C66}&siteid=mktw WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- The White House on Tuesday will estimate that the federal budget deficit will soar to $455 billion this fiscal year, according to a news report, well above the previous record in dollar terms but a figure that the Bush administration says remains "manageable" when compared to the overall economy. The Office of Management and Budget's midsession review will also show a deficit of $475 billion in fiscal 2004, with red ink falling back to $226 billion by 2008, the Associated Press reported, citing a Republican who spoke on condition of anonymity. An OMB spokesman didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment. OMB is set to release the report Tuesday afternoon. Democrats and Republicans staked out familiar ground ahead of the White House's latest assessment of the federal budget outlook. White House spokesman Scott McClellan, echoing comments by OMB Director Josh Bolten in his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, told reporters Tuesday morning that the rising deficit "remains a concern, but it's one that is manageable." Without citing specific figures, McClellan pledged the administration would be able to halve the budget deficit in the coming years. "Over the next few years, we will cut this deficit in half," the spokesman said. Unlike the CBO, the administration can include the impact of measures that it expects to be enacted but haven't yet been signed into law, such as elements of the Medicare prescription drug proposal that is expected to cost $400 billion over the next 10 years. Bush administration officials and GOP lawmakers contend the rising red ink is a temporary and manageable phenomenon resulting from recession and the war against terrorism. Democratic lawmakers say the administration is using war and recession as excuses to cover the long-run fiscal impact of the tax cuts passed into law in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Democratic staff of the House Budget Committee, using assumptions in the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast, had previously estimated that the Bush tax cuts and spending patterns will result in deficits every year of the coming decade even if economic growth picks up, resulting in a cumulative deficit of $3.959 trillion between 2004 and 2013, counting the Social Security surplus. The figure is $6.527 trillion if Social Security funds are left out. That would raise total public debt from $3.54 trillion in 2002 to $7.915 trillion by 2013, outstripping economic growth and likely putting upward pressure on interest rates, Democratic staffers say. Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said deficits have become a "moral issue" and said the White House and congressional GOP leaders have "foregone responsibility" to future generations of Americans. The White House, however, is expected to avoid a long-range, 10-year forecast, sticking instead to a five-year outlook. Administration officials contend 10-year forecasts are notoriously unreliable. Republicans say Democrats exaggerate the impact of the near-term deficits. While recent figures are the highest in dollar terms, they remain smaller than those posted in the 1980s when measured as a percentage of the economy, wrote Rich Meade, chief of the House budget panel's GOP staff, in a memo released Monday. The previous largest budget gap in dollar terms was $290 billion in 1992. A $400 billion deficit this year would equate to roughly 4 percent of GDP. The largest gap relative to the overall economy occurred in 1986, when the deficit hit 6 percent of GDP. Meade accused Democrats of talking tough on deficits but shying away from efforts to rein in spending. William L. Watts is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com. Reporter Corbett Daly contributed to this report.