2009 deficit to be 490 billion dollars

[ivanm]

[notoc]

What those clever Enronesque official government accountants aren't including in their end notes is the fact that, gross domestic product is made up of everything Americans (private and public) spend.

Everything.

Escalating costs of crime (increased security, prisons, public defenders), divorce (lawyers, alimony, two households), natural disasters (rebuilding after hurricanes, floods, volcanic eruptions) and war spending are included. But for the purpose of calculating GDP, unlike business accounting, the cost of natural resources that are used to generate income are not deducted .

The GDP increases with the cost of goods and services (inflation).

As consumer durables wear out faster and need more frequent replacement or repair, the GDP increases.

And when almost everything is bought with borrowed money the whole account is shown up for what it is - complete twaddle.

[notoc]

higher-than-expected costs from the $168 billion economic stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year.

I wonder what that means.

[Pepsi]

As consumer durables wear out faster and need more frequent replacement or repair, the GDP increases.

And how true this is!    Like kids toys.   I recently visited my mother with my kids and she still had some of the toys I played with when I was a baby.    Those toys work as well as when they were bought in ~1967.    Nowadays, kids toys need batteries and have blinking lights, made of plastic and cheap electronics they last a couple months.

[notoc]

[lucy]

"This is not an honest view of our country's budget deficit and the administration knows it. Their failure to include a realistic assessment for war spending and refusal to make accurate assumptions about the alternative minimum tax is disappointing and does not set the right tone for having a serious discussion about our country's dire fiscal situation. As we rapidly approach $10 trillion in debt, we cannot continue to play games with how we look at our fiscal situation.

"Both the White House and Congress are guilty of such gimmicks on a yearly basis, and it is time for it to stop. The American taxpayers deserve to be shown the true scope of our financial problems. Our country's resources have been mismanaged and the economic downturn we're experiencing will only make the situation worse. We need to work together on a bipartisan basis to overhaul our budget process, reform entitlement programs and restrain our spending."

A copy of the Fiscal Year 2009 Mid-Session Review released by OMB is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/09msr.pdf



source: www.thechattanoogan.com

Comments by Bob Corker US Senator from TN

[lucy]

$10 trillion.

That is beyond comprehension.

[notoc]

GDP accelerates to 1.9% pace in second quarter
Domestic demand falls for second time in the past three quarters

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Boosted by stimulus checks from Uncle Sam and a big drop in imports, real growth in the U.S. economy accelerated in the second quarter to a 1.9% annual rate, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Consumer spending was supported by the largest increase in disposable personal income in six years, thanks largely to about $80 billion in tax-rebate checks from Washington.

The economy was held back by the crumbling housing market and by the biggest drop in inventories in seven years. Investments in equipment and software also fell during the quarter.

Annual revisions in the report also showed that the economy contracted in the fourth quarter of 2007, falling 0.2% for the first drop in real gross domestic product since the recession of 2001. The economy grew at a revised 0.9% annual rate in the first quarter.

It's increasingly likely that the private National Bureau of Economic Research will declare that a recession began in the fourth quarter, said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for Merk Investment.

LINK



Government spending increased 3.4% in the quarter, including 6.7% growth in federal spending. State and local government spending rose 1.6%