Federal Budget Deficit - MoveOn Libs, nothing to see here

re(1): 'Gummint', www.polipundit.com, Jayson
re(2): 'January 2006 Budget Statement', U.S. Treasury
re(3): 'FY2005 Budget Statement', U.S. Treasury
re(4): 'January 2005 Budget Statement', U.S. Treasury
re(5): 'FY2004 Budget Statement', U.S. Treasury
re(6): 'January 2004 Budget Statement', U.S. Treasury
re(7): 'FY2003 Budget Statement', U.S. Treasury
re(8): 'January 2003 Budget Statement', U.S. Treasury

To all,

I have been spending all day (all weekend, actually) trying to place an HTML table in a blog entry on this fine Blogger driven page... Stupid thing places a billion blank lines (which cannot be deleted) before the table appears. Very nice, and a known bug with no real resolution...

So folks, as of now you get no raw data... What a raw deal...

The basic gist of the whole thing was to inform my few (and getting fewer) readers that it looks as if the Federal budget deficit is shrinking. It looks to be between:

286 Billion (taken from reviewing Actual/January ratios)

and

316 Billion (taken from the reviewing Actual/CBO ratios)

That is a far cry from the origininal FY2006 CBO estimate of 423 Billion...

I would put my money on the lower number, and even go lower than that... By the way, I slogged through emails I send to friends every once in a while. I missed last years deficit number by about 9 Billion - I figured it to be about 325 Billion. The CBO figured FY2005's deficit at 426 Billion - so they missed it by only 101 Billion.

Anyone remember President Bush's campaign pledge to cut the deficit in half by FY2009 (his last budget). Well guess what, the CBO estimate for FY2004 was 520 Billion - in reality it came in at about 412 Billion, missing the mark by 108 Billion - good enough for government work. Last year (FY2005) the CBO estimate missed the target by only 101 Billion. He was sitting at 318 Billion at the end of FY2005. Thus, President Bush has to shave off about 25 Billion over the next three years in a growing economy, with conservative electorate pressing to reduce expenses, and with the wind down of Iraq.

Hhhhhmmmm, can he make it?

Me thinks so

I think he will make it even if a couple of hundred thousand American military personnel make an unexpected visit to a nation steeped in the history of Xerxes and Darius and Alexander and Sulla.

Me thinks my el Presidente will be looking quite rosy when he troops about the nation campaigning for squishy Republicans.

And Jayson, where is the Hooverville remark in your post. How am I to find it in the future. Certainly the Libs expect a better unemployment rate that 4.9% and a rapidly shrinking deficit. They are fighting goverment expenditures with every breath they take. I can just see their campaign - 4% unemployment and a deficit of 2% will crush the poor, disabled, and elderly!!!