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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (32904)	2/18/2009 12:23:16 PM
From: Steve Lokness	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Tim; Yes, and it is, which is why I said "Legitimately so, its a transfer of funds from the government to the government". Some would add the borrowing from SS to the deficit, I wouldn't (but I think the future liabilities from SS should be accounted for in some other way). Yes, I agree with your thinking here. But that's not what the author was arguing. He was saying that the move from 9 to 10 trillion was a result of borrowing from the SS trust fund. He said the move should have been 455 Billion. But if they are taking it from the SS TRust fund (not part of the budget) and using that money to run the government - how does that make the deficit go up? I think the author is wrong - NOT you.

To: TimF who wrote (32904)	2/18/2009 1:38:12 PM
From: Steve Lokness	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Tim; Every dollar spent on the wars counts the same towards government debt as any other dollar the government spends. yes, that's why the war spending shows up on the move from 9 trillion to 10 trillion but NOT in the annual budget deficits (the 455 billion figure). The war funding is "off-budget" I believe. By that they mean they don't calculate the amount in the annual amount of deficit - BUT it shows up as money spent in the total deficit figure because it is indeed real money. Hard to understand I know, and very dishonest. I wonder if the stimulus stuff is off balance sheet as well? I bet it is. bigpicture.typepad.com