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To: Lee who wrote (68216)	9/29/1998 3:24:00 PM
From: Diamond Jim	Respond to of 176387

RT 68 9/16 3:20

To: Lee who wrote (68216)	9/29/1998 8:36:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

<economy>First U.S surplus in 29 years-Bubba to celebrate-Yahoooo! Hi Lee: How is this for good news,I sure hope the guys in D.C will continue work on issues like this instead of messing around with sex scandals and other various and sundry non-issues. Don't you think this is extremely good news not only for the country in general and the market in particular? ============================================== Tuesday September 29, 8:07 pm Eastern Time Clinton to cheer first U.S. surplus in 29 years (Adds details, background) By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - President Bill Clinton will celebrate the first U.S. budget surplus since 1969 on Wednesday and urge Congress to maintain the fiscal discipline that erased nearly three decades of deficit spending, U.S. officials said. The officials, who asked not to be identified, declined to estimate the surplus for fiscal 1998, which ends on Wednesday, but independent budget analysts put it at roughly $70 billion. ''Happy New Year,'' said one official delighted that Clinton, a Democrat, will be the first president in 29 years to preside over a surplus. Clinton has scheduled a 10:35 a.m. EDT (1435 GMT) event in the White House Rose Garden to crow about it. The black ink has been brought about by deficit-reduction plans passed under Republican former President George Bush in 1990 and under Clinton in 1993 as well as by the remarkable U.S. economic expansion that has lasted more than seven years. Contributing factors range from the demise of the Soviet Union, which allowed Washington to trim military spending, to Wall Street's bull market, which has swelled capital gains tax revenues, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy, which has helped sustain strong U.S. growth and general tax revenues. Ironically, analysts say last year's landmark budget accord between the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress had little to do with this year's surplus and may even have reduced it. That accord aimed to balance the budget by 2002. Robust U.S. growth has helped the government rack up a $31.82 billion surplus for the first 11 months of fiscal 1998, through the end of August, and strong revenues generally flow in during the final month of September. ''We have 11 months of data, which certainly indicates that our early estimates were conservative,'' said one administration official referring to the White House's $39 billion forecast. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent bureau overseen by Congress, last estimated the surplus at $63 billion. The last month of the fiscal year, September, typically shows a surplus as companies make their estimated quarterly tax payments. In fiscal 1997 it added a net $49.29 billion to the government's coffers and in fiscal 1996, $35.26 billion. Those figures were swelled by unusually large revenues from capital gains taxes, a trend that has continued this year as many investors continued to reap healthy profits from the stock market, which peaked in July. The U.S. budget deficit was $21.9 billion in fiscal 1997 and the last surplus, in 1969, stood at $3.24 billion. Whether the United States will stay in the black is an open question given the financial crises in Asia, Latin America and Russia, which threaten to slow growth and shrink tax revenues. It is also unclear whether Congress will be able to resist the temptation to spend the surplus, either on tax cuts, as the Republicans advocate, or on popular programs. Already the White House has sought emergency money to aid farmers and to beef up security at U.S. embassies, cash that would not technically come from the surplus, which is counted after such emergency spending, but would reduce the money left in the government's coffers when any surplus is added up. White House officials said the current plan was for Clinton to strike a conciliatory tone on Wednesday, celebrating the surplus rather than attacking the Republican-held Congress over the budget as he has for weeks. Congress, preoccupied by the scandal over Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, has so far passed only three of the 13 spending bills needed to keep the government running in fiscal 1999, which begins on Thursday. In an effort to shift attention from the Lewinsky scandal and to tar the Republicans ahead of the Nov. 3 congressional elections, Clinton has attacked Congress repeatedly for failing to do the work of passing the annual appropriations bills. The president has also lambasted the Republicans for their plan to use some of the surplus to pay for an $80 billion tax cut rather than save the money until the Social Security retirement income system is reformed, as Clinton wants. ''The idea is to take a loftier tone,'' said one official of Clinton's speech on Wednesday, adding that this could change.