Tag Archives: smoke and mirrors

Boehner-Obama Debt Reduction Deal In Perspective

The Boehner-Obama plan cuts the $14.3 trillion national debt by $38.5 billion, which is a little less than 3/10%. This is not a very impressive amount.

No wonder many conservatives are calling it a Republican sell-out.

Since fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2010, the national debt has increased by $653.4 billion. According to a CNS report, the federal debt increased $54.1 billion during the eight days preceeding the deal. Compare that to a $88.4 billion increase over the 58 days covering February and March; the only reasonable conclusion is the federal government went on a spending spree. Why? The mostly likely reason was to cover the losses to be incurred during April. Consequently, there was no reduction of the national debt because there was no a decrease in spending.

I heard one expert say the debt reduction deal was a miniscule amount when compared to the overall debt. No, there was not any reduction. It is like the inflationless great recession: the inflation came prior to the recession i.e, housing prices, fenergy prices, food prices, and devaluing of the dollar.

Let’s hope the next round of budget cuts are real reductions of government spending and debt.