Kash at Streetlightblog and Angry Bear explains easily with one graph both how the federal budget got to be in such imbalance (deficit) relative to GDP and how insignificant the so-called "massive stimulus" was in 2009-10. I think that when trying to understand the federal government's fiscal situation, at least on the spending side, it … Continue reading Real Causes of Federal Spending Growth: Military and Healthcare
government spending
I Repeat: Social Security Is *Not* the Problem
I've observed it before, but it deserves repeating. Social Security is NOT the cause of any present or future Federal government deficits. Social Security is NOT financially troubled. Social Security IS financially sound. To the extent the Federal government has a deficit problem (which in reality is much less than people think, but that's another … Continue reading I Repeat: Social Security Is *Not* the Problem
Why the Deficit Increased
The deficit increased over the last 2 years, but it wasn't because of any "surge" or "explosion" in government spending. It was because the real economy, which generates the tax revenues, collapsed because of a financial crisis, as the following graph shows. It wasn't an increase in govt spending. Spending continued to increase at the … Continue reading Why the Deficit Increased
EconProph 