State of the Union: Cut deficit in half?

[Jurph]

I’ll paraphrase the President: by following his plan, we can “cut the deficit in half in the next five years.” My questions are simple. I don’t want to debate his policies, whether or not they are effective. I would like to assume, for the purpose of this post, that he told the truth. I want to know the following facts:

1. Did I mis-hear the President, or was he speaking only of the budget deficit, that is, the rate of overexpenditure? If I did mis-hear, and he was speaking of the national debt, please replace “deficit” below with “debt”.

2. What was our deficit on the day President Bush took office (or nearest possible datum)?

3. What is our deficit today (or nearest possible datum)?

[Fear_Itself]

@Jurph

I’ll paraphrase the President: by following his plan, we can “cut the deficit in half in the next five years.” My questions are simple. I don’t want to debate his policies, whether or not they are effective. I would like to assume, for the purpose of this post, that he told the truth. I want to know the following facts:

1. Did I mis-hear the President, or was he speaking only of the budget deficit, that is, the rate of overexpenditure? If I did mis-hear, and he was speaking of the national debt, please replace “deficit” below with “debt”.

2. What was our deficit on the day President Bush took office (or nearest possible datum)?

3. What is our deficit today (or nearest possible datum)?

1. He was speaking of the federal budget deficit, not the national debt.

2. Not only was there no deficit when Bush took office, by most accounting, the Clinton Administration left a $236 billion dollar surplus.

http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=2729&sequence=0

3. The federal budget deficit today stands around $400 billion, a loss of $656 on Bush’s watch.

http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4310&sequence=0

[Fear_Itself]

$656 billion

[Ravenman]

Nitpick: the budget deficit for 2003 was about $401 billion. The projected deficit for 2004 is $480 billion.

Interestingly, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the current budget deficit will be haved, to $203 billion, in 2007, assuming a more or less constant rate of growth.

http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=1944&sequence=0

[Fear_Itself]

@Ravenman

Nitpick: the budget deficit for 2003 was about $401 billion. The projected deficit for 2004 is $480 billion.

I stand corrected.

Interestingly, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the current budget deficit will be haved, to $203 billion, in 2007, assuming a more or less constant rate of growth.

Congressional Budget Office

Yeah, well there are many slips twixt cup and lip. Remember when the CBO projected a $5.6 trillion surplus by 2011?