Bush administration admits to record deficits

Graph of estimated Budget DeficitConsidering the Bush administration’s track record, this 455 billion is going to start balloning alarmingly. Just two years ago Bush was going on about a [url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/02/24/national/main274334.shtml]6 trillion dollar surplus[/url]. By any standard, going from +6 trillion to -1 trillion is abysmal. Enron would be proud. The [url=http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/world/2003_07/great_empire_or_grand_illusion.html]leftist’s dream of the comeuppance of America[/url] seems more possible with every day of the Bush administration.

[quote]The Federal budget deficit will be $455 billion, roughly 50 percent larger than the White House estimated in February, the President’s Office of Management and Budget said this afternoon.

>>[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/15/politics/15CND-BUDGET.html?ex=1058932800&en=774665d3cb4b1309&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE]NYTimes: White House Foresees Deficit Reaching $455 Billion This Year[/url]

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[quote] ….And why do the Republicans need to spin the deficit? Because it’ll be in the [url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&ncid=536&e=3&u=/ap/20030715/ap_on_go_pr_wh/worsening_deficits]range of $400-450 billion[/url] each of the next two years (probably more) — far surpassing the previous record of $290 billion notched by papy Bush. And far surpassing the administration’s previous bogus estimate of $300 billion.

And the kicker — those deficit numbers don’t include the costs of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s $48 billion/year, according to Rumsfeld’s numbers, pushing the deficit to a potential mind-boggling $500 billion.

That’s half a trillion, or a full trillion dollars over the last two years of Bush’s presidency.

….So we have record-shattering deficits, the highest unemployment rate in almost a decade, a steady stream of body bags in Iraq, and a credibility crisis as people finally tune in to the administration’s lies.

>>[url=http://www.dailykos.com/archives/003396.html#003396]Daily Kos[/url]

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[quote] $455 billion projected for this year, $475 billion for next. And those numbers exclude the $4 billion/month expense of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

So the numbers should really say $503 billion for this year, and $523 billion for the next. And Republicans are somehow better stewards of the taxpayer’s money?

>>[url=http://www.dailykos.com/archives/003405.html#003405]Daily Kos[/url]

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