Bloomberg News published a new round of polling data last night, most of it relating to the economy and the larger fiscal debate. The results are largely in line with expectations -- most Americans prefer President Obama's debt-reduction plans over Republicans', and would like Congress to delay the sequester to avoid hurting the economy.
But there was one question in the poll that struck me as especially important: "Let's turn to the federal budget deficit. This is the amount the government spends that is more than the amount it takes in from taxes and other revenue. Is it your sense that this year the deficit is getting bigger or getting smaller, or is it staying about the same as last year?"
I put together this chart to help highlight the Bloomberg results. A 62% majority believe the deficit is getting bigger, 28% believe the deficit is staying roughly the same, and only 6% believe the deficit is shrinking.
In other words, in the midst of a major national debate over America's finances, 90% of Americans are wrong about the one basic detail that probably matters most in the conversation, while only 6% -- 6%! -- are correct.
For the record, last year, over President Obama's first four years, the deficit shrunk by about $300 billion. This year, the deficit is projected to be about $600 billion smaller than when the president took office. We are, in reality, currently seeing the fastest deficit reduction in several generations.
And yet, 90% of Americans don't believe the demonstrable, incontrovertible, entirely objective truth. It's worth pondering why.
Public ignorance on this scale is, to my mind, understandable given the political conversation. Literally every day, Republican officials proclaim that the deficit is spiraling out of control, threatening the fate of Western Civilization As We Know It. The media often fails to play a constructive role, with news organizations playing along, telling the public that the deficit is necessarily a bad thing, and that policymakers have a responsibility to address it immediately.
Indeed, for the typical American news consumer, I imagine there's an assumption that comes alongside the fiscal debate: "The deficit must be getting bigger in a hurry, otherwise it'd be stupid for Washington to invest so much time and energy on this issue, instead of other pressing matters."
But the facts are the facts, even if only 6% of the country is aware of them.
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I have to remember that you can not have an intelligent discussion based on facts with the GOP or Tea Party members. Block only can not keep beating my head against a brick wall it gives me a headache.
Don't you need to HAVE a budget before you can determine if you have a deficit or not.
More liberal dog and pony bull@!$%#.
Feb 2010 - President Obama announced a $3.83 trilion budget today that he hopes will fight unemployment while freezing spending on some government programs. It's a huge price tag, and it's worsening an enormous, record-setting budget deficit -- $1.6 trillion.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/obama-budget-history-federal-budget-deficit/story?id=9721492
2011 budget - $1.56 Trillion deficit. Oh look, it's getting SO SMALL!!!
2012 budget - $1.327 Trillion deficit. WOW! It's almost microscopic!
Three years and a total of $4.487 added to the national debt.
Give a liberal a bar chart and he'll believe ANYTHING.
Government receipts and revenues change every month. At the end of the calendar year they can get an influx of coprorate tax payments which gives them a temporary boost. Around April they get another boost from all the individual payers who owed more taxes than was withheld. Spending usually peaks in September (last month of the fiscal year) so yes, they may run a surplus for one month. The more important number is how it is doing all year. The annual deficit HAS been getting lower (not by much) though. Fiscal year 2009-10 it was $1.6 trillion. 2010-11 it was $1.228 trilliion and 2011-2012 $1.224 trillion. But that is the deficit (the annual shortfalls) not the debt- which is still growing by over $1 trillion a year.
But for those of you retards that think the economy's getting better, the median household income fell over 3000 dollars during Obama's "recovery", that's higher than the it fell during the recession. This president is about as big as a piece of lying crap as the last one, yet somehow the majority of people think he's gods blessing in disguise. THIS IS THE GUY THAT STOOD UP AT THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS AND SAID "Lower income families should have easier access to home loans" DID THIS RETARD MISS THE WHOLE HOUSING CRISIS THAT PUT US IN A RECESSION??!!!?!?!!!
Now consider this: Last year the combined budgets just for defense, medicare/medicaid, social security, and interest on the debt EXCEEDED ALL REVENUE.
Edit: oh, and the baby boomers are about to stop paying into the kitty and start pulling out through SS and medicare. And once the bond market goes ass over teakettle, the interest on the debt will explode.
Have a nice day :)
"But for those of you retards "
hope you are not teaching this kind of IGNORANCE to that child on your lap!
2012-2013 projected to be 830 billion. dam that's almost haft in 4 years.
Teaching him to not be a wuss and not listen to the stupid ass staus quo.
Here's some numbers for you, Total Federal, State, and Local government spending is 40% of GDP, almost 25% of that is Federal... any "real" economist will tell you that it's totally unsustainable.
You can tax more and redistribute the money however you want, it's still not going to change the fact that wages aren't keeping up with productivity.