It's a matter of Bidenomics!

Gas prices are at 20 year highs still. It sucks cuz Americans are very stupid people and gas prices is something very visible. Good news is peace talks are currently happening and next year gas will be under 3 again nationwide...

 

@AroundTheWorld Germany is literally deindustrializing because of bidens subsidies and there's MAGATs @Salvy who are brainwashed that somehow biden is controlled by Europe LOL

People are so brainwashed nowadays

 

In a contrast to some
Other polling a CBS YouGov poll says 65% of Americans polled say that the economy is bad.

 

I would imagine anyone who has financed a car or house in the last year feels that way.

 

I think anyone making any big financial decisions these days has cause to grumble

 

Gas prices is the only thing people care about. Last December when gas prices were under 3 biden was polling above 50% and on economy was polling 48%. Since then inflation has dropped in half and stock market is at record highs but folks don't care cuz of gas prices.

 

@Invisible Fan

She's literally my role model in life.

 

So your role model is a woman born decades after you that works in the public sector? I don't usually like to disparage other posters, but you would make a subpar public servant. Literally.

 

All these positive numbers...we'll probably see a 6% Fed rate by this year.

 

Just keep spendin'. Just keep spendin'. Spendin' spendin' spendin'...

The federal deficit nearly tripled, raising concern about the country's finances

The federal deficit nearly tripled, raising concern about the country's finances

The U.S. budget deficit ballooned in the first nine months of its fiscal year, both because of a sharp increase in government spending and a significant drop in tax revenues.

The federal government's deficit nearly tripled in the first nine months of the fiscal year, a surge that's bound to raise concerns about the country's rising debt levels.

The Treasury Department said Thursday that the budget gap from October through June was nearly $1.4 trillion — a 170% increase from the same period a year earlier. The federal government operates under a fiscal year that begins October 1.

The shortfall adds to an already large federal debt — estimated at more than $32 trillion. Financing that debt is increasingly expensive as a result of rising interest rates. Interest payments over the last nine months reached $652 billion — 25% more than during a same period a year ago.

"Unfortunately, interest is now the government's fastest growing quote-unquote 'program,'" said Michael Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson foundation, which promotes fiscal responsibility.

Why the deficit is surging
The deficit ballooned both because of a sharp increase in government spending and a significant drop in tax revenues.

Treasury officials blamed the falling revenues on reduced investment gains last year. The S&P 500 stock index, for example, fell nearly 20% in 2022, during a period of uncertainty about the economy. While the index has since rebounded, investors realized fewer capital gains last year, and paid less in capital gains taxes this year.

Overall, tax revenues between October and June were 11% lower than the same period a year ago.

At the same time, government spending jumped 10%. Spending on major health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid rose sharply. Social Security payouts jumped 11%, thanks in part to an 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment for retirees and other recipients — the largest such increase in four decades.

The government has also paid $52 billion so far to cover deposits at three regional banks that failed this spring. That money will come from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s deposit insurance fund and a special assessment on other big banks.

Can surging deficits be sustained?
The government's gusher of red ink brought renewed calls for fiscal restraint.

"We are projected to spend more on interest payments in the next decade than we will on the entire defense budget," said Maya Macguineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. "How can anyone possibly think this trend is sustainable?"

The recent showdown over the government's debt ceiling brought little meaningful change in the fiscal outlook. A deal to avoid a government default imposed modest caps on discretionary spending, which is a relatively small part of the overall budget.

The ballooning deficit continues to spark political fights. Congressional Republicans have rejected any call for tax increases, while the White House has fought proposals to cut spending on major programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

Macguineas said all aspects of the federal budget should be on the table.

"We're running off the rails at an alarming rate," she said in a statement. "We need to do better."

The Fitch bond rating agency warned in June that despite the country's "exceptional strengths," the nation's AAA bond rating could be jeopardized by "governance shortcomings," including "failure to tackle fiscal challenges."
​

 

I respect the hustle and passion. Lefties always whine about how the "establishment" is so strong and nothing changes but this person wrote a papar on corporate consolidation and now she's the most powerful regulator in modern history.

She's taking on PBMs and wants to get rid of them. Where I work in rural America all the independent pharmacy owners adore her cuz she's making them $$.

She's breaking up amazon, breaking up Google, breaking up PBMs, breaking up ticketmaster. Corporate America isn't our friend. We finally have someone taking a stand after 80 years

 

Why do you care about the deficit? It's made up and as long as we're rhe reserve currency it makes no sense not to run deficits. Quality of life has gone up by insane amounts since we ran deficits. Deficits are not bad if they're spent properly

 

1. The GDP/debt ratio is more important than the actual number
2. We can welsh on the principal, but we're still paying interest off the deficit.

Somehow I doubt a snowballing annual interest payment of a 1T+ will be inconsequential to bond purchasers, but maybe cold fusion along with miraculous AI technology will explode our economy like our projected balance sheets.

 

Entitlement reform is a must but no one has the stomach..... Taxes are still historically low.....

And on the other hand... we haven't been investing in infrastructure and skills in any meaningful way until recently.

And to really rub it in.... the War on Terror was a financial boondoggle while China, Russia, Iran, and NK are very real threats and we aren't as prepared because until recently we operated a different type of military.

 

What sort of investments do you find okay on a deficit? Infrastructure? Care economy? Hunger?

There's 3.5t of taxes to be had if we reverse the trump + Bush tax cuts

 

This a better question than Deficits Don't Matter or some unproven faith in MMT. If deficits really didn't matter, go full Andy Yang and give all the $55k-under schlubs 1,000 per month to play with. In fact, get the government to fund housing for them as well. Get that money circulated!

I can't entirely fault Biden for continuing Trump's bullshit spending largesse. As I also had a problem with Trump overinflating the (re-)financialization of our economy, using government spending to pull weight for the real spending hasn't worked for any nation in the long run (Japan...Abenomics, China...post-GFC stimulus, Europe...lul wut?). The debt load eventually turned into a headwind to their recovery.

It could work for us, but anyone who thinks this boosted spending is sustainable till next election season is out of their ******* minds.

Very short term minded thinking.