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| Economy | |
| The Budget Sequester Is A Success | |
| 2013-08-13 | |
[WSJ] The Obama spending blitz is over and the deficit is heading below 4% of GDP.
Consider the numbers: According to the Congressional Budget Office, annual outlays peaked at $3.598 trillion in fiscal 2011. After President Obama's first two years in office, many in Washington expected that number to hit $4 trillion by 2014. Instead, spending fell to $3.537 trillion in fiscal 2012, and is on pace to fall below $3.45 trillion by the end of this fiscal year (Sept. 30). The $150 billion budget decline of 4% is the first time federal expenditures have fallen for two consecutive years since the end of the Korean War. This reversal from the spending binge in 2009 and 2010 began with the debt-ceiling agreement between Mr. Obama and House Speaker John Boehner in 2011. The agreement set $2 trillion in tight caps on spending over a decade and created this year's budget sequester, which will save more than $50 billion in fiscal 2013. As long as Republicans don't foolishly undo this amazing progress by agreeing to Mr. Obama's demands for a "balanced approach" to the 2014 budget in exchange for calling off the sequester, additional expenditure cuts will continue automatically. Those cuts are built into the current budget law. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 Here's the gist of the negatives and doubtfuls (the latter in bold type): If the country sees any normal acceleration of economic growth (from the anemic 1.4% growth rate so far this year), the deficit is on a path to drop steadily at least through 2015... But the fiscal story isn't all rosy. The major entitlements remain on autopilot and are roaring toward insolvency. Thanks in large part to Mr. Obama's aversion to practical fixes, the Congressional Budget Office calculates that through July of this year Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending are up $73 billion from just last year. This doesn't include ObamaCare, which is scheduled to add $1 trillion of new costs over the next decade... All Republicans need to do is enforce the budget laws Mr. Obama has already agreed to. Entitlement reforms will come when liberals realize that the unhappy alternative is to allow every program they cherish to keep shrinking. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-08-13 10:56 |
| #3 Clever, gentlemen. But one suspects you did not read the article before commenting. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-08-13 10:07 |
| #2 All the goals set in a five-year plan were surpassed? Yes, Citizen. Unfortunately, in order to make the next five year plan, we have to cancel SSI in order to pay for EPA programs to save a small, obscure fish in an Oregon pond. Priorities, eggs/omelette, all that. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2013-08-13 06:37 |
| #1 All the goals set in a five-year plan were surpassed? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-08-13 02:01 |