You look at the U.S. budget deficit, and you cannot help but feel that this is a serious accident waiting to happen. And not just a serious U.S. accident, but a serious global accident.
Our fiat currency is under increasing stress with our large and growing trade deficits. We have a federal deficit that is calculated in the trillions when we take into account the net present value of the future Social Security and Medicaid obligations we are creating today.
The reason Ronald Reagan gets slammed for having so badly exacerbated the problem of deficit spending is that he so plainly deserves it.
The goal is to reduce the size and scope of government spending, not to focus on the deficit. The deficit is the symptom of the disease.
We can reduce our deficit, and do it in a much more balanced way than sequestration, simply by fixing our tax code to get rid of needless giveaways.
Social Security has not contributed to the deficit problem.
It’s going to be true that anything that reduces the federal deficit will have somebody unhappy.
To create employment, we need to stimulate the economy, and to stimulate the economy, we need to cut spending and reduce the deficit.
The body responds to a calorie deficit by slowing down the metabolism and burning muscle tissue. That leads to weakness, sluggishness, slow times. In girls, it can also result in cessation of menstrual periods, which in turn leads to loss of bone density and frequent stress fractures.
The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing.
In fact, our monthly trade deficit figure is so huge it equals the entire annual budget of our Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans fought to make us free from foreign tyranny, but the new tyranny is taking a different form.
The Japanese, despite the trade deficit and their ability to build fabulous automobiles, still think that a guy in a monster suit is all that is needed for a monster movie.
So if the euro, if Euroland is to become a reserve center, if the euro is to become a reserve currency, Euroland will have to have a deficit in its overall balance of payments.
Sometimes, if a country’s currency is overvalued in real terms, and it looks like the current account is going to be in deficit for the foreseeable future, devaluation can make sense.
The government deficit is the difference between the amount of money the government spends and the amount it has the nerve to collect.
Money flows into the US, and inflates US assets, and allows the US to have a monstrous trade deficit. That means we are consuming more than we are producing.
Things are going better: there is more growth, less deficit, more competitiveness, better margins for companies, more purchasing power for workers.
Our universal message of access to economic opportunity resonates with the ironworker in northeastern Ohio and the immigrant in South Florida. And we sometimes have a relationship deficit with our voters, because we’re not communicating that message.
India’s trade deficit is because of excess of import over exports.
When you have a half slice of chocolate pie, it’s as if you owe yourself the other half – what’s known in medical circles as a ‘caloric deficit.’
The immediate effect of the deficit is to make you feel good, like when you go on a trip and pay later. You feel good, and then you get a hangover. The deficit makes you feel good – until you pay later.
I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.
I have attention deficit disorder, so sitting in a classroom is not the best thing for me.
The only way that we can reduce our financial dependence on the inflow of funds from the rest of the world is to reduce our trade deficit.
Reconciliation is a special budget procedure to change entitlement and tax laws. It cannot be filibustered and requires only a simple majority in the Senate to be passed. It is primarily intended for deficit and mandatory spending reduction.
Governing isn’t as easy as you think. Many of you have taken pledges that are contradictory – to balance the budget and cut taxes, for example. You must be honest about the numbers, since our annual deficit now exceeds all discretionary spending combined.
While the deficit and debt are serious problems, I oppose solving these problems by raising taxes.
I am fairly certain that our budget deficit was not caused by children with autism or 90-year-old grannies in nursing homes, so why take it out on them by cutting services?
I’ve, we have in this state, like many other states, we’re experiencing an enormous budget deficit that we’re trying to grapple with. But we will have progress despite the deficits.
It’s much more powerful to say I’m working to reduce spending, deal with our nation’s deficit, push back on the federal government, and give specifics for that rather than just say, ‘I’m a conservative.’
Establishing a 0.03 percent Wall Street speculation fee, similar to what we had from 1914-1966, would dampen the dangerous level of speculation and gambling on Wall Street, encourage the financial sector to invest in the productive economy and reduce the deficit by more than $350 billion over 10 years.
We have to change economic policy: create confidence, foster investment, cut the public deficit, restructure taxation and reform the labor laws.
It is vital that we get these policies right as we take forward our plans to drive down the deficit and transform our economy.
One thing I have been banging on about, we have a dessert deficit in the U.K. We still import a very large proportion of our desserts. I would ask everyone to go out and buy a British dessert.
I can clear a dinner table in less than 60 seconds, moaning like a dockyard Elijah about the deficit and the inevitable reckoning.
Everybody has to agree that the best thing we can do to start reducing the deficit in this country is to put people back to work.
If you’re worried about the deficit, pay attention to the fact that it’s almost all attributable to military spending and the totally dysfunctional health program.
But because we in the United States finance our current account deficit by borrowing in our own currency, we can move to a more competitive dollar without the adverse effects that followed currency declines in other countries.
One thing everyone seems to agree on is that Republicans face a perceived compassion deficit.
For the last 4 years, our Federal Government has produced the four biggest deficits in history, and the estimated 2006 deficit of $423 billion is projected to be the largest of all.
I voted for the Deficit Reduction Package with significant heartburn over the student aid provisions.
Something is wrong that we have to feed so many. Why should there be poverty with all of our science and technology? There is no deficit in human resources – it is a deficit in human will.
Maybe that first, gigantic deficit the Reaganites piled up was an accident, just a combination of deluded ‘supply side’ tax cuts and a huge bag of good stuff for the Pentagon. But pretty quickly conservatives discovered that deficits, when done correctly, did something really cool: deficits defunded the Left.
People like Pete Peterson, the former secretary of commerce and Blackstone and titan of Wall Street, etc., has been writing books for years about the debt and deficit.
For the first time in 15 years, Georgia this winter has its electric power guaranteed without deficit. This is a historic achievement.
But the debt limit obviously is something that needs to and will be passed. That is not inconsistent with a process and a belief that we have to get significant deficit reduction.
Deficit, deficit, deficit. The political and media elites are obsessed with the D-word.
When Grover Norquist launched his project to name anything and everything after Ronald Reagan, I humbly proposed that the deficit be re-christened ‘the Reagan.’
We ought to deal with Social Security in a separate conversation that is not part of deficit reduction.
What we do want to see is reforms that are going to have a permanent effect on the budget deficit.
The way my brain processes information is quite odd. I mean, I have Attention Deficit Disorder and another learning disability I can’t even spell. I don’t even have a high school diploma. I’m smart, but you can’t prove it on paper.
I do think our challenge is to balance credibility and a clear message about how we would reduce the deficit with boldness about the choices that we put before the public.
The United States is the least protectionist country in the world but has the largest trade deficit, while other countries are highly protectionist and have huge trade surpluses. This cannot continue.
We cannot solve the deficit crisis on the back of our seniors. We need all Americans to pay their fair share.
This deficit that we have threatens our very way of life, and everything needs to be on the table.
You care about the deficit because it allows you to do things you need to do to help people who are suffering.
The more competitive value of the dollar turned around the trade deficit.
The party in power almost always unapologetically engages in deficit spending, while the other party argues passionately against the evils of debt and deficits.
