Great news: October deficit higher than October 2011

[Valin]

Hot Air:

Ed Morrissey

11/14/12

 

The official CBO estimate of the federal deficit for FY2012, which concluded on September 30th, came to $1.1 trillion. That represented a $200 billion improvement over FY2011, helped along by an estimated $75 billion surplus in September 2012 to finish off the fiscal year on a positive note. That positive note came after an August deficit of $191 billion, though, and the average deficits for FY2012 came to nearly $100 billion a month.

 

So far, FY2013 is off to a worse start — and even worse than last year’s start:

 

The budget deficit rose in October, the first month of fiscal year 2013, as looming negotiations over expiring tax cuts and imminent spending reductions dominated the post-election political landscape.

 

The Treasury said on Tuesday the October deficit was $120 billion, larger than economist forecasts for a $114 billion gap and up from $98 billion in October of 2011.

 

The White House can’t blame a decline in tax revenues, either. This comes from a 16% increase in federal spending in October 2012 over October 2011 even while tax revenues increased by nearly 13%:

 

(Snip)

 

[Valin]

Oh It Just Gets Better and Better!!!

 

Power Line: The Federal Welfare Explosion

John Hinderaker

11/14/12

 

Welfare is now the largest item in the federal budget, and under Barack Obama’s budget–the one that didn’t get any votes, but may nevertheless be a blueprint for the next four years–it is slated to grow another 30% in Obama’s second term. Welfare is now the largest category of federal spending; note that the figures in the chart include state contributions to federal welfare programs:

 

 

This is an astonishing fact: the amount spent on federal welfare programs last year was enough to mail a $60,000 check to every one of the 17 million households living beneath the poverty line. And that doesn’t include spending by state and local governments, which traditionally have had primary responsibility for welfare, or spending by private charities. This illustrates once again that the principal beneficiaries of welfare spending are not poor people, which is why Richard Nixon wanted to institute a negative income tax that would simply give money to poor people rather than supporting the vast welfare apparatus that exists mainly for other reasons.

 

(Snip)

 

 

Obviously the problem is Rich People are not paying enough Taxes.

[Pepper]

@Valin

 

(We need to squeeze those rich fat bastards for every penny they have - it's our money, they made it off our backs, and that will pay our federal government operating expenses )^sarcasm

 

for what, about

 

a month or two?

 

Something insignificant.

[Valin]

Editorial: Welfare, in its many forms, mushrooms

Federal spending on more than 80 programs rose 32 percent in three years; total now about $1 trillion.

 

The United States spent $61,000-plus last year supporting welfare programs for each household in poverty, according to U.S. Census, Office of Management and Budget and Congressional Research Services data.

 

If the money had been handed directly to those families, they would have arrived in the middle class, their poverty eradicated, at least until they spent the money. Instead, hundreds of billions of dollars were passed through costly, inefficient and, apparently, ineffective government channels.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

@Valin

 

(We need to squeeze those rich fat bastards for every penny they have - it's our money, they made it off our backs, and that will pay our federal government operating expenses )^sarcasm

 

You're being sarcastic, but that's pretty much the way they think.