US Federal Deficit Fell 50% in Biden’s First Year

[Deluge]

25 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

Why not make taxes zero then...  my point is that conservatives don't "always" support tax cuts.  There needs to be some measure of qualification.

Let's not get overreactive, MIke. 

I'm saying that Americans are sick of government waste and overspending. We're sick of the finger pointing. We need leaders who will actually help the country and its people, not help themselves. 

 

[Rebound]

42 minutes ago, User said:

No, it was the spending that didn't make deficits lower. 

The amount of money the US government collected went up after the tax cuts. Spending went up even more. 

It is the one thing Republicans and Democrats do together, they both spend, spend, spend. 

 

And?

Deficits were artificially high from Pandemic spending. Why don't you tell us where Deficits are today under Biden after Pandemic spending as compared to before?

You will see Biden is spending more. (With the help of both parties... they all love to spend, spend, spend)

Total federal revenue was basically flat, despite the tax increasing tariffs imposed by Trump. This is all public record you can find on .gov websites which are required by law to publish actual revenue and outlays.

[User]

26 minutes ago, Rebound said:

Total federal revenue was basically flat, despite the tax increasing tariffs imposed by Trump. This is all public record you can find on .gov websites which are required by law to publish actual revenue and outlays.

Flat from when?

2016 - 3.27 Trillion

2017 - 3.3 Trillion

2018 - 3.4 Trillion

January 1st: Trump Tax cuts go into effect

2019 - 3.6 Trillion

2020 - 3.6 Trillion

2021 - 4.05 Trillion

 

[Michael Hardner]

38 minutes ago, Deluge said:

Let's not get overreactive, MIke. 

I'm saying that Americans are sick of government waste and overspending. We're sick of the finger pointing. We need leaders who will actually help the country and its people, not help themselves. 

 

I get it, but it's 'deficits' that they rail against more than all is my point.  The leaders are helping themselves through money donations that they get to pocket to help the corporate class prey on working people IMO

[Deluge]

4 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

I get it, but it's 'deficits' that they rail against more than all is my point.  The leaders are helping themselves through money donations that they get to pocket to help the corporate class prey on working people IMO

Yes, the global corporatists are also a big part of the problem. They need to be checked as well. 

[robosmith]

2 hours ago, User said:

Flat from when?

2016 - 3.27 Trillion

2017 - 3.3 Trillion

2018 - 3.4 Trillion

January 1st: Trump Tax cuts go into effect

2019 - 3.6 Trillion

2020 - 3.6 Trillion

2021 - 4.05 Trillion

 

You forgot to cite your source. Was it your ass?

[User]

3 minutes ago, robosmith said:

You forgot to cite your source. Was it your ass?

Oh great, look who showed up to play dumb here. 

CBO and Treasury. Now what?

[robosmith]

2 minutes ago, User said:

Oh great, look who showed up to play dumb here. 

CBO and Treasury. Now what?

Where's the LINK, NOOB

[User]

3 minutes ago, robosmith said:

Where's the LINK, NOOB

I have no interest in playing your game of jump this high. 

I gave you the sources of my information. Take it or leave it. They are both publically available and easily searched if you so desire. 

 

[robosmith]

2 minutes ago, User said:

I have no interest in playing your game of jump this high. 

I gave you the sources of my information. Take it or leave it. They are both publically available and easily searched if you so desire. 

 

So you really don't have any sources. Anybody can type names, doesn't mean they say what you posted.

[User]

1 minute ago, robosmith said:

So you really don't have any sources. Anybody can type names, doesn't mean they say what you posted.

I just gave you the sources. 

Is there a particular number you disagree with? Why?

[robosmith]

2 minutes ago, User said:

I just gave you the sources. 

Is there a particular number you disagree with? Why?

My source Statistica says they're wrong. Of course we don't even know to what your data refers.

Was it Net Income Tax revenue? Gross revenue? All sources? 

You see, when you don't post a link, no one knows WTH you're talking about. Or LYING about.

[User]

5 minutes ago, robosmith said:

My source Statistica says they're wrong. Of course we don't even know to what your data refers.

Was it Net Income Tax revenue? Gross revenue? All sources? 

You see, when you don't post a link, no one knows WTH you're talking about. Or LYING about.

Your source... the one you did not post a link to?

I just checked Statistica, it confirms what I posted almost exactly for most of my numbers and off by a decimal point on a couple others and only 2 had any significant difference... 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2024 by User

[robosmith]

5 minutes ago, User said:

Your source... the one you did not post a link to?

I just checked Statistica, it confirms what I posted almost exactly for most of my numbers and off by a decimal point on a couple others and only 2 had any significant difference... 

If you just went there, why did you FAIL to post the link? Maybe cause you did NOT.

[User]

2 minutes ago, robosmith said:

If you just went there, why did you FAIL to post the link? Maybe cause you did NOT.

If you were just there, why did you FAIL to post the link?

Statistica:

2016 - 3.27 (Exact Match)

2017 - 3.32 (.01 difference)

2018 - 3.33 (.1 difference)

2019 - 3.46 (.14 difference)

2020 - 3.42 (.18 difference)

2021 - 4.05 (Exact Match)

So, what is your point? 

 

[gatomontes99]

 The annual federal deficit declined by $1.4 trillion on Biden’s watch, from 2021 to 2022. That was larger than any previous one-year reduction in the deficit. Looking at the two-year period from 2021 to 2023, the deficit declined by less, but still by almost $1.1 trillion.  The decline happened mostly because the pandemic was an extraordinary historical occurrence that prompted an aggressive, and temporary, government response.  On Biden’s watch, even the reduced deficit is larger than any of the deficits on Trump’s watch. And the federal debt has kept rising, just more slowly than it did during the pandemic.

Politifact is a heavily liberal website and even they had to admit it is a half truth. By their standard, that means it a vald face lie.

When COVID stimulus is disregarded, spending increased under Biden. Just because he could permanently maintain pandemic level spending doesn't mean he actually made cuts.

[Matthew]

These kinds of comparisons are always flawed. Can't blame trump for necessary drastic spending that took take place in a global pandemic.

And the lack of adequate revenue is still a chronic problem that obviously Republicans don't have the will to fix, nor democrats the ability to fix in a divided government.

[User]

12 minutes ago, Matthew said:

And the lack of adequate revenue is still a chronic problem

There will never be enough revenue for the spending increases... we have a spending problem. 

[Matthew]

9 minutes ago, User said:

There will never be enough revenue for the spending increases... we have a spending problem. 

Perhaps. That was also true back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s when taxes were far higher. Those decades had a transformative impact on investing in our society and making it better. The same cannot be said of the last 40 years of right wing austerity politics.

[CdnFox]

On 10/25/2022 at 10:55 AM, Michael Hardner said:

Side issue.  A disaster happened.  Blaming Trudeau, Trump et al for resulting deficits is pure politics.

Now the deficit BEFORE Covid is another matter.  Ask the cult members what happened to the Tea Party ?  What's Paul Ryan doing these days ?

I asked a cult member on this very board and the response was "Paul Ryan blah blah blah"... so...

They're yanking your chain dude. 

Biden has never come anywhere close to being as low as trumps precovid deficits. 

U.S. Budget Deficit by Year (thebalancemoney.com)

2019 was low.  2020 was high obviously and so was 2021 a bit, then it started to go down but shot right back up higher again in 2023 and is on track this year to be higher still. 

 

Biden ran bigger deficits even after covid by a large amount, almost twice Trumps worst non covid year in 2023. 

[User]

4 hours ago, Matthew said:

Perhaps. That was also true back in the 40s, 50s, and 60s when taxes were far higher. Those decades had a transformative impact on investing in our society and making it better. The same cannot be said of the last 40 years of right wing austerity politics.

I don't know how you can sit here saying we are under any form of austerity right now with a straight face. 

[Hodad]

15 hours ago, Nationalist said:

No but they did help produce a great economy for the people.

You do care about the people...don't you?

They didn't, actually. Didn't move the needle a bit. Growth maintained the exact same trend.

[Nationalist]

5 hours ago, Hodad said:

They didn't, actually. Didn't move the needle a bit. Growth maintained the exact same trend.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-happened-to-the-economy-under-trump-before-covid-and-after-11602713077

Yes...they did.

[Matthew]

11 hours ago, User said:

I don't know how you can sit here saying we are under any form of austerity right now with a straight face. 

Every major domestic problem the US has (housing shortage, healthcare costs, crime, immigration, etc) could be alleviated with robust public investment and intervention. National and state policies in the last 40 years have largely trended toward reducing government revenue and cutting and privatizing the minimal programs we do have. Republicans and democrats squabble between tax rates in the absurdly low 30% range vs the 20% range while still operating a complex system that does some of the many things that almost everyone expects it to do, increasingly funded via deficit spending. Without cutting big budget items like the military, social security, Medicare, the only way to pay a 1.7 T deficit is with increased revenue--let alone afford anything else that would improve society.

[User]

37 minutes ago, Matthew said:

Every major domestic problem the US has (housing shortage, healthcare costs, crime, immigration, etc) could be alleviated with robust public investment and intervention. National and state policies in the last 40 years have largely trended toward reducing government revenue and cutting and privatizing the minimal programs we do have. Republicans and democrats squabble between tax rates in the absurdly low 30% range vs the 20% range while still operating a complex system that does some of the many things that almost everyone expects it to do, increasingly funded via deficit spending. Without cutting big budget items like the military, social security, Medicare, the only way to pay a 1.7 T deficit is with increased revenue--let alone afford anything else that would improve society.

There is not one government program I can think of that has not substantially grown in the last 40 years or at a minimum kept up with inflation, not any example of government at state level, definitely not federal, that has not grown or expanded. Revenue is up, not down for taxes collected. 

You are calling for more spending now, which is different than claiming we are under austerity. 

Taking 1/3 of peoples money is not absurdly low, and many so called "rich" pay up to half or more of their earnings. 

Taking more money from people = taking more money out of the economy where money is better spent. Government does an abysmal job spending money or caring about it or doing what is best with it.