[Zardoz]

Going broke, going bad, going south. BushCo is leaving us with quite the little mess to clean up, aren't they?
2008 U.S. Budget Deficit Bleeding Red Ink - First 4 Months Of Budget Year At Nearly $88B, Double Amount Recorded For Same 2007 Period
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he federal budget deficit is running at a pace that is more than double last year's imbalance through the first four months of the budget year.
In its monthly review of the government's finances, the Treasury Department said Tuesday that the budget was in surplus in January, but totals $87.7 billion so far this budget year, double the $42.2 billion imbalance recorded during the same period in 2007. The new budget year started last Oct. 1.
The Bush administration sent its final budget request to Congress last week, projecting that the deficit for all of 2008 will total $410 billion, very close to the all-time high in dollar terms of $413 billion in 2004.
So far this year, federal spending is 8.3 percent ahead of last year's pace, at $949.1 billion. That is far ahead of the 3.2 percent increase in revenues, which have totaled $861.4 billion in the current budget year.

[PopeGideon]

You know, I severely dislike Bush.
I also severely dislike idiot democrat/liberals whose elected officials currently own two houses of Congress.
Why?
Because when the idiot Congress passes an idiot deficit spending package and it signed by the idiot president, the idiot democrat/liberals come screaming hysterically down the street, "look what Bush is doing."

Who will you f**king blame it on when you own Congress and the White House? Right wing, minority party obstructionists?
You are a total idiot. Your boys in Congress draft this bill and pass it, and you blame it on Bush. This explains a lot about you and our interaction in another thread. Always somebody else to blame, never your fault.
Double plus bad.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PopeGideon', 'Y')ou know, I severely dislike Bush.
I also severely dislike idiot democrat/liberals whose elected officials currently own two houses of Congress.
Why?
Because when the idiot Congress passes an idiot deficit spending package and it signed by the idiot president, the idiot democrat/liberals come screaming hysterically down the street, "look what Bush is doing."
Who will you f**king blame it on when you own Congress and the White House? Right wing, minority party obstructionists?
You are a total idiot. Your boys in Congress draft this bill and pass it, and you blame it on Bush. This explains a lot about you and our interaction in another thread. Always somebody else to blame, never your fault.
Double plus bad.

[KrellEnergySource]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'I') don't like either party either, but can tell you the repuglicans are the ones who borrow and spend, which seems a lot less fair than taxing and spending. The democrats often inherit deficits from the no mind repubs/

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PopeGideon', ' ')when the idiot Congress passes an idiot deficit spending package and it signed by the idiot president, the idiot democrat/liberals come screaming hysterically down the street, "look what Bush is doing."

[Zardoz]

Bush's proposed $3 trillion budget is biggest - With reactions like 'fiscal meltdown,' Democrats aren't ready to deal

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n the nation's first-ever $3 trillion budget proposal, President Bush seeks to seal his legacy of promoting a strong defense to fight terrorism and tax cuts to spur the economy. Democrats, who control Congress, are pledging fierce opposition to Bush's final spending plan — perhaps even until the next president takes office.

The 2009 spending plan sent to Congress on Monday will project huge budget deficits, around $400 billion for this year and next and more than double the 2007 deficit of $163 billion. But even those estimates could prove too low given the rapidly weakening economy and the total costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Bush does not include in his request for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

[mmasters]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PopeGideon', 'Y')ou know, I severely dislike Bush.
I also severely dislike idiot democrat/liberals whose elected officials currently own two houses of Congress.
Why?
Because when the idiot Congress passes an idiot deficit spending package and it signed by the idiot president, the idiot democrat/liberals come screaming hysterically down the street, "look what Bush is doing."
Who will you f**king blame it on when you own Congress and the White House? Right wing, minority party obstructionists?
You are a total idiot. Your boys in Congress draft this bill and pass it, and you blame it on Bush. This explains a lot about you and our interaction in another thread. Always somebody else to blame, never your fault.
Double plus bad.

[Windmills]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PopeGideon', ' ') Who will you f**king blame it on when you own Congress and the White House? Right wing, minority party obstructionists?

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'I')n the nation's first-ever $3 trillion budget proposal, President Bush seeks to seal his legacy of promoting a strong defense to fight terrorism and tax cuts to spur the economy. Democrats, who control Congress, are pledging fierce opposition to Bush's final spending plan —

[Bas]

the perks of a two party democracy.....hey, wait a minute is, a two party state actually a democracy?!

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PopeGideon', 'Y')ou know, I severely dislike Bush.
I also severely dislike idiot democrat/liberals whose elected officials currently own two houses of Congress.
Why?
Because when the idiot Congress passes an idiot deficit spending package and it signed by the idiot president, the idiot democrat/liberals come screaming hysterically down the street, "look what Bush is doing."
Who will you f**king blame it on when you own Congress and the White House? Right wing, minority party obstructionists?
You are a total idiot. Your boys in Congress draft this bill and pass it, and you blame it on Bush. This explains a lot about you and our interaction in another thread. Always somebody else to blame, never your fault.
Double plus bad.

[PopeGideon]

Vision master, you old communist, I'm no right winger.
But it's interesting that, because I disagreed with your position, you label my words are right wing dribble.
Threadbare, I know you're a socialist.

Between tax and spend and borrow and spend, I'll take borrow and spend.
With tax and spend, I'm certain I'll get screwed bad. With the other, less so.

[BigTex]

Both parties are equally good at spending.
Surely that is beyond debate by now.
The difference is the constituencies served by the spending. The Republican constituencies are much better at keeping their programs than the Democrats' constituencies.
Want to cut a program to the poor? Who are you going to fight? Ted Kennedy (if he's sober).

Want to cut a weapons program? You better have a big stick because it's going to be a fierce fight.
True, Congress must pass the budget, but the budget the President presents is ALWAYS the starting point for negotiation, so the President always has a lot of input on where the conversation is going to start. The President can always PRESENT a balanced budget to Congress. On the other side, the President can always veto a budget he doesn't like and there typically are not the super-majorities needed to overrule the veto. So the President and Congress share about equally in the bad fiscal policy.

The bottom line is this: Government exists for one reason and one reason only, and that is to perpetuate itself and grow larger. Governments NEVER shrink, they only get bigger. Politicians get their support because of what they DO, not because of what they DON'T DO. If I ran a campaign and my platform was "I'm not going to do shit for anybody because that's not the government's job", do you think I would be elected?
What is government really, other than one big "protection" racket? Think about it. When the neighborhood thug comes in and demands protection money, who is he protecting you from? Mainly him, but if another thug moves in he will protect you from the other thug as well, but not because he cares about you, but because he wants to protect his source of income.

The government sends you your tax bill and requires you to pay it. Why? Because the government is providing you with "protection." From whom are you being protected? Well, hostile foreign nations, street criminals, and....of course....the law enforcement apparatus of the government. If you refuse to pay the protection money the authorities will come for you way before the street criminals and foreign governments will.
Does the government see it this way? No, but does that really matter? You're still paying protection money and the government continues to use the protection money for foreign and domestic adventures that have absolutely nothing to do with the function of any kind of restrained and minimal government.

The sad thing about democracy is that it guarantees the government will always expand because to get elected you must make promises to your constituents that the government will pay for. Whoever makes the most promises and delivers the most when elected gets to stay in office.
Promising tax cuts with no corresponding spending cuts is just one more "big government program."

[ALBY]

LESS FILLING !/TASTES GREAT !

*pukes*

[heroineworshipper]

$400 billion is only $100 billion in 1980 dollars.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('heroineworshipper', '$')400 billion is only $100 billion in 1980 dollars.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('heroineworshipper', '$')400 billion is only $100 billion in 1980 dollars.

[KaiserCesar06]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('heroineworshipper', '$')400 billion is only $100 billion in 1980 dollars.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KaiserCesar06', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('heroineworshipper', '$')400 billion is only $100 billion in 1980 dollars.

[Revi]

The Federal Government can just print up a bunch more money. It's the state governments that are in real trouble. They don't have the power to print more worthless coupons and have to live within their budgets. We are in real trouble here in Maine, and I guess we aren't alone. They are going to cut 95 million out of the state budget and I'm afraid that they always start at the bottom. The bureaucrats won't be cut until last. Children, elderly and anyone else who is easy to take from get cut first.