Deficit Archives - The Minnesota Sun

House Speaker Fight Foreshadows Larger Debt Ceiling Battle on the Horizon for Republicans

January 9, 2023January 8, 2023 Admin

The gridlock that paralyzed House Republicans over the past week in their quest to elect a new Speaker could be a foretaste of more to come, with party moderates and conservatives set to tangle in the months to come over raising the debt ceiling and reining in reckless government spending.

Although newly elected Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy ultimately prevailed in his bid for the office over a small but determined band of House Freedom Caucus members, his slim GOP majority in the House will be vulnerable if and when conservatives rebel again down the road, as some are predicting, in an effort to reassert debt reduction as a top priority for the party.

Commentary: Don’t Give an Inch on the Debt Ceiling

December 5, 2022December 4, 2022 Admin

The dust has barely settled from the contentious midterms, and the battle lines are already being drawn for the next legislative fight in Washington: the debt ceiling. With the nation at unprecedented levels of indebtedness, the choice in this fight is a stark one: a path toward stability or fiscal Armageddon.

If that sounds hyperbolic, consider the following facts about America’s finances.

Commentary: The Biden Inflation Tax, Made Clear in One Chart

August 15, 2021August 14, 2021 RealClearWire

Joe Biden walking with "American Jobs Plan" sign

What is all this “Biden inflation tax” talk really about? What is the actual effect of inflation on the lives of real people?

Well, below is a chart that compares yearly wage and inflation rates for each month from 2017 through July of this year using Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Wage rates are in blue and inflation (as measured by the consumer price index) is in red. When blue is on top, as it was during the entire Trump administration, workers’ wages are beating inflation and their standards of living are improving. When red is on top, they’re not.

While President Biden claims that it is “indisputable” that his jobs plan “is working,” this chart unequivocally shows that it is not, at least not for American workers. Rather, inflation is surging, more than wiping out any wage gains those workers might have experienced.

The Congressional Budget Office Says the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Will Increase Deficits by $256 Billion over 10 Years

August 6, 2021 Admin

The Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday that the bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill will add $256 billion to the deficit over the next decade, undercutting its backers’ claims the spending had been offset.

In FY2020, the deficit hit a record $3.1 trillion. So far in FY2021, the deficit is $2.2 trillion. The national debt is climbing to $29 trillion for the first time in U.S. history.

Biden’s ‘American Jobs’ Plan Could Cost Taxpayers about $666,000 per Job Created

April 12, 2021April 11, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris

President Joe Biden’s proposed $2 trillion American Jobs Plan could end up costing taxpayers more than $666,666 per job created.

The Washington Post gave Biden “two Pinocchios” for saying the American Jobs Plan, his infrastructure and jobs proposal, will create 19 million jobs. Both Biden and his Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg have made the 19 million jobs claim. The source of the statement is a Moody’s analysis, which CNN pointed out had estimated the U.S. economy would add about “16.3 million jobs over the same period if the infrastructure proposal does not get passed.”

CBO Says Budget Deficit Will Hit $2.3 Trillion in 2021

February 15, 2021February 14, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

The U.S. budget deficit will be larger than expected because of the $900 billion stimulus bill passed in December, a whopping $448 billion larger than was projected in September, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday.

According to Breitbart, the CBO forecasts that the federal government will borrow $2.26 trillion this year making it the second-largest deficit since World War II. Last year’s $3.1 trillion was the biggest in absolute numbers and also the largest as a share of gross domestic product.

Budget Deficit Spiked in January, CBO Report Finds

February 10, 2021February 9, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

The federal budget deficit grew a whopping 400% in one year as the pandemic caused spending to skyrocket, the Congressional Budget Office said in a report Tuesday.

The estimated January federal budget deficit was $165 billion, $132 billion more than the deficit in January 2020, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report released Tuesday. The federal budget in the first four months of fiscal year 2021, which started in October, was $738 billion, an 89% jump compared to the same period last year.

U.S. Deficit 60.7 Percent Higher Than This Time Last Year

January 16, 2021January 15, 2021 The Center Square

The federal deficit in the first three months of the budget year is 60.7 percent higher than over the same time period as last year, a record-breaking $572.9 billion.

The deficit surged as a result of Congressional spending of $3.5 trillion in 2020 in response to the coronavirus, although critics note that spending on pork barrel programs that had nothing to do with the virus increased and also drove the deficit. At the same time, revenue declined because of ongoing state lockdowns.

Awash in Red Ink: U.S. Posts Record $3.1T 2020 Budget Deficit

October 17, 2020October 16, 2020 The Associated Press

The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, more than double the previous record, as the coronavirus pandemic shrank revenues and sent spending soaring.

The Trump administration reported Friday that the deficit for the budget year that ended on Sept. 30 was three times the size of last year’s deficit of $984 billion. It was also $2 trillion higher than the administration had estimated in February, before the pandemic hit.

Commentary: Deficits Are Secondary to What You’re Paying For

September 3, 2019September 2, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

“I am not worried about the deficit,” Ronald Reagan famously said. “It is big enough to take care of itself.”

If you pay attention to the libertarian purists, President Reagan earns mixed reviews on his economic policies. After all, in 1983, the federal budget deficit exceeded 6 percent of GDP. But Reagan was untroubled by federal budget deficits for at least two reasons, and in both cases he has been vindicated by history.

Commentary: The Latest Treasury Figures Show Deficit Will Be Just Below $1 Trillion in 2019

August 14, 2019August 13, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

With just two months remaining in fiscal year 2019, come Sept. 30, the U.S. budget deficit appears likely to come in just shy of $1 trillion, the latest data from the U.S. Treasury shows.

In FY2018, the Deficit Increased – But Not Because of Tax Cuts

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018 Admin

by Robert Romano The numbers for the end of Fiscal Year 2018 are in and they aren’t pretty for fiscal hawks, as the budget deficit increased by an eye-popping $113 billion to $779 billion. But it had nothing to do with tax cuts. Tax receipts rose by $14 billion.…

Deceptive Tricks Congress Uses to Drive Spending Higher

September 24, 2018September 23, 2018 Admin

by Justin Bogie Congress is up to its old tricks again, trying to pass another massive spending bill that uses gimmicks and tricks to push deficit spending even higher. And it thinks it can hoodwink President Donald Trump into signing it. Next week, the House is expected to vote on…

Commentary: Trump, Reagan, and Big Government

July 29, 2018July 29, 2018 Admin

by Jeffery Rendall As I strolled through the excellent and memory-provoking exhibits at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library (in Simi Valley, CA) the other day I was struck by how similar President Donald Trump’s approach to today’s politics is to the way Ronald Reagan handled the subject a half…

China’s US Trade Surplus Hits Record in June

July 14, 2018July 13, 2018 Admin

Reuters China’s trade surplus with the United States swelled to a record in June as its overall exports grew at a solid pace, a result that could further inflame a bitter trade dispute with Washington. But signs exporters were rushing shipments before tariffs went into effect in the first…