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REAL CHANGE
(not small change)
In the 1970s, Lily Tomlin developed an iconic comic character she named Ernestine--a telephone clerk who took perverse pleasure from hectoring customers. Her character was a perfect portrayal of the arrogance of AT&T, the monopolistic telephone giant of that day. In one skit on on the TV show, Laugh-In, Tomlin had Ernestine delivering a TV pitch for the corporation:
About surpluses and deficits
The July Lowdown is a nifty poster packed with facts about the US economy. Hightower and our research chief Laura Ehrlich checked in with dozens of good government groups and assorted watchdogs, each one dealing with a specific bit of the economy, to come up with this overview -- and it ain't a pretty picture.
One item needs clarification though. In the printed version of the July Lowdown, the section labeled Deficits says "Budget surplus Bush inherited in 2001 when he came into office -- $$5.6 trillion." What it doesn't say -- because it was inadvertently dropped in the layout process -- is that this figure is a projection out 10 years. Back in 2001 the federal government, until recently presided over by Clinton, was taking in a lot more than it was spending. The Congressional Budget Office projected that, over the period 2001 through 2011, the surplus funds would add up to $5.6 trillion, assuming Bush & Co. maintained Clinton & Co.'s policies. For Bush's cronies, this projected fortune was the perfect excuse for cutting taxes. House Majority Leader Dick Armey fulminated that “over the next 10 years, American taxpayer will be overcharged by a staggering $5.6 trillion.”
We can't go back and edit the words "projected out 10 years" into the printed Lowdowns, but we have corrected the wording here on the web version.
Likewise, the second line in the Deficits section, which says "Budget deficits amassed by Bush since 2001-- $8.5 trillion" should have also said "projected over 10 years." Again, we were quoting the Congressional Budget Office which, on 1/26/06, issued new budget figures that project $8.5 trillion in federal borrowing over the fiscal 2006–2016 period if President Bush’s tax and spending policies are maintained.
These projections provide a dramatic big picture of the trend of government getting and spending, which was why we included them in our poster. (Btw, our sources for all the figures in our poster are posted here.)
Just two days ago Bush himself announced, as it were a triumph of financial management, that the budget deficit this financial year (ending 9/30) would be "only" about $300 billion and not the $400-plus projected back in January.
* Alert Lowdowners, including Jal and Joey, have also emailed to point out that the total surplus and deficit figures -- projected over 10 years -- are very close to the national debt figures. This is true but, essentially, a coincidence.
