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Forums - Politics - Congressional Budget Office: Deficit problem solved for the next 10 years

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/14/cbo-says-deficit-problem-is-solved-for-the-next-10-years/

Excerpt: 

It looks like we’ve moved to talking about possible scandals just in time, because according to the Congressional Budget Office, the debt disaster that has obsessed the political class for the last three years is pretty much solved, at least for the next 10 years or so.

The last time the CBO estimated our future deficits was February– just four short months ago. Back then, the CBO thought deficits were falling and health-care costs were slowing. Today, the CBO thinks deficits are falling even faster and health-care costs are slowing by even more.

Here’s the short version: Washington’s most powerful budget nerds have cut their prediction for 2013 deficits by more than $200 billion. They’ve cut their projections for our deficits over the next decade by more than $600 billion. Add it all up and our 10-year deficits are looking downright manageable. Following are the highlights.

End of the tea party?



XBL Gamertag: ckmlb, PSN ID: ckmlb

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Do you think that the tea party or the right wing cares about what the CBO says? They'll just claim that the CBO is in cahoots with Obama at best.



No, I don't, but the CBO is supposed to be an objective observer because it's non-partisan. The tea party was started as a movement to fight against budget defecits, so if the budget defecits collapse will they go away? I think the IRS scandal just gave the Tea (Party) Republicans life as a faction for a little longer when the movement seemed to be dying down. 



XBL Gamertag: ckmlb, PSN ID: ckmlb

Miguel_Zorro said:

Is this a joke?  They're still projecting that deficits from this year through the next 10 years will be $7 trillion!  That's with rosy assumptions.

This is insane.  America is taking on an obscene amount of debt that will permanently cripple the nation.

Do you know the difference between debt and budget deficit? Edit: nevermind you added up the deficits over 10 years

The article is about the yearly budget deficit shrinking a lot faster than expected.



XBL Gamertag: ckmlb, PSN ID: ckmlb

Ckmlb1 said:
Miguel_Zorro said:

Is this a joke?  They're still projecting that deficits from this year through the next 10 years will be $7 trillion!  That's with rosy assumptions.

This is insane.  America is taking on an obscene amount of debt that will permanently cripple the nation.

Do you know the difference between debt and budget deficit? Edit: nevermind you added up the deficits over 10 years

The article is about the yearly budget deficit shrinking a lot faster than expected.


it's great that its shrinking faster than expected, but still 7 trillion in overspending in the next 10 years? what if we hit another recession we have to spend our selves out of



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It's shrinking mostly because tax revenue is a lot higher then expected and because Fannie May and Freddie Mac are making a bunch more money then expected off there loans.  Which... I'd actually be worried about Freddie and Fannie... considering.

and the deficit and debt will continue to rise quite a bit.

This is also assuming that nothing happens in congress from here on out. So, that the Democrats won't get any of the extra spending they want for example. No tax cuts by republicans.... No discretionary funding, no emergency funding, no financial crisis.

No rollover of Medicare price reductions. (Which, despite Washington gridlock is something that always seems to pass.) No extension of popular tax breaks for anyone from republican businesses to democratic businesses to the poor.

So if your rooting for congressional gridlock, this is good news.  Otherwise....

Essentially to keep budget analysis. The congress has to do nothing. Even then... i'm planning to be alive in 10 years. Not sure about you.

The truth is, the debt problem is far larger then democrats, and republicans realize... and that includes the tea party.



Because there wasn't going to be gridlock in congress anyway? Republican leadership said their first goal was to have Obama fail and now that the economy argument failed in the election, things are improving and the deficit is shrinking the congress has moved on to the (bigger than Watergate, Alien Conspiracy, Iran-Contra, clone of Hitler) scandals that they're going to drag all the way to the 2014 elections even though there is no link in any of them to congressional Democrats and the Benghazi thing (the only one linked to the White House) is a non scandal.



XBL Gamertag: ckmlb, PSN ID: ckmlb

Sequestration has made my job much more bearable, too. Since my company handles the background checks for federal employment, slow hiring keeps our mandatory overtime now. Apparently a few years back, there were doing 12 hour days regularly...



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

Yet government is growing and the dollar is still being devalued because of it. I truly won't be happy until government growth is halted and we have a reduction of its size. I suppose the U.S government suits Americans well. It's fat and has no self-control to limit itself. It just grows, grows, and grows becoming more intrusive in our lives and all over the world. And the FED is the government version of McDonald's. 



Miguel_Zorro said:
Ckmlb1 said:
Miguel_Zorro said:

Is this a joke?  They're still projecting that deficits from this year through the next 10 years will be $7 trillion!  That's with rosy assumptions.

This is insane.  America is taking on an obscene amount of debt that will permanently cripple the nation.

Do you know the difference between debt and budget deficit? Edit: nevermind you added up the deficits over 10 years

The article is about the yearly budget deficit shrinking a lot faster than expected.


The only reason I used a 10 year timeline is because that's the timeline that they used... and I understand what the article is about, thank you.


Not really worth discussing anymore.(or ever)  The economic report that was released the day after this report came out already screwed up the projections for this.

That's generally the problem with CBO projections.  They measure the current status quo.  Even though in washington you can be sure the current status quo isn't going to come close to being held... since stuff that expires pretty much never does expire.  Like the Federal Helium Program.  Which everbody wants to get rid of... yet nobody ever does.  (Which exists to make sure we dont' lose the arms race vs europe in combat zeplins.)  Note, i'm actually for the program, it makes a profit... but 90% of congressmen talk about every year how it's an outdated silly program that needs to die.  Republican and Democrat... and they keep voting to extend it.   Not even repeal it mind you... because they don't have too, because it has a limited timeframe.  They just keep extending it even though nobody likes it.

Now measuring how one piece of policy is going to effect the budget... that means something.  Because it's just a straight + or - figure.  It can still be off, but it doesn't operate on a "Nothing will be done, even the stuff that's always done" assumption.