The CBO released their monthly budget review for August which shows the federal deficit topping one trillion dollars for the year.
We’ve still got three weeks before the fiscal year is over, so keep it up, fellas.
The federal budget deficit was $1,067 billion for the first 11 months of fiscal year 2019, CBO estimates, $168 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last year. Revenues were $102 billion higher and outlays were $271 billion higher than in the same period in fiscal year 2018.
Actually, it’s not as bad as all that. The CBO says that because of higher tax revenue in September, we’re likely to just miss the magic nine-zero number.
The projected deficit for this year is $181 billion more than the deficit last year. The 2018 deficit was reduced by $44 billion, however, because certain payments that would ordinarily have been made on October 1, 2017 (the first day of fiscal year 2018), were instead made in fiscal year 2017 because October 1 fell on a weekend. If not for that shift, last year’s shortfall would have been $823 billion, and the estimated increase in the deficit in 2019 would be $137 billion.
I tell ya, bookkeepers are gonna be the death of us.
No matter. We may or may not hit the magic number this year. But we’re certain to top it in the next decade — several times:
Federal deficits are expected to swell to higher levels over the next decade than previously expected, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a new report Wednesday.
The CBO also said that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are projected to shrink gross domestic product by 2020, and warned that further tariff hikes could stifle economic growth.
Nonsense. Everyone knows that we don’t have to pay for tariffs. They’re freebies — sort of like a “free lunch” except not as appetizing.
The U.S. budget deficit is expected to hit $960 billion in 2019, and average a whopping $1.2 trillion per year between 2020 and 2029, according to the CBO’s look ahead at the U.S. budget and economic outlook over the next decade.
I’m sure that Donald Trump and the GOP can do better than that. If Trump really wants to “Make America Great Again,” he’s going to have to try harder. After all, President Obama achieved trillion-dollar deficits four times. To make America greater, Trump is going to have to go for two trillion.
Nothing ordinary for our president.
How are we going to pay for all that debt? Surely, you jest (and don’t call me Shirley). We don’t worry about the small stuff. Twenty-five trillion dollars in public debt will no doubt take care of itself…someday.
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