Press Doesn't Notice $110 Billion April Rise in National Debt Despite $59 Billion Surplus
Here's a word which the Associated Press's Martin Crutsinger only used once in his coverage last Thursday of Uncle Sam's April 2012 Treasury Statement: "debt." And when he did, he was quoted someone about Europe's situation.
To his credit, the AP reporter wasn't particularly impressed with the fact that the government was able to run a single-month surplus of $59 billion in April. To his detriment, he didn't note that somehow, the national debt also went up by $110 billion:
The interactive model used to get the above information is here.
That's a $169 billion difference which requires an explanation; but a totally incurious press isn't supplying one. Even if one ignores intergovernmental holdings (which in my opinion one shouldn't), the $69 billion increase in "debt held by the public" (which is really "debt held by anyone who isn't part of the federal government") is a $128 billion swing from the reported surplus.
If the national debt is increasing for "off-budget" reasons, what are they, and will such differentials continue? Because if they do, the nation, which was about $700 billion away from its $16.394 trillion debt ceiling on April 30, is going to hit the limit before Election Day, no matter what kind of evasive maneuvers Tim Geithner might deploy in the meantime (if he even really wants to, of which we can't be sure; a pre-election "crisis" might come in handy for his boss's reelection chances). The additions the the national debt caused by monthly "budget" deficits alone (in quotes because the government hasn't had a real budget for three years and counting) will probably add at the very least another $300 billion. Today's statement by House Speaker John Boehner about his posture in future debt-ceiling negotiations, which otherwise seemed to come out of nowhere, may be rooted in the belief that the administration is evaluating hitting the limit before Election Day as a campaign strategy.
Crutsinger also didn't provide readers with the two key components of the Treasury Statement. Receipts were $319 billion, the highest in four years, but more than 20% below the $404 billion officially collected in April 2008 (you remember, during that absolutely awful Bush economy). Outlays were a ridiculously low $260 billion, about $110 billion less than March. If we're to believe that spending is coming down to the level consistently for the foreseeable future, it might be cause for celebration. Dream on.
Crutsinger was far from alone in ignoring the large April debt increase. So did Reuters, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal in their related reports.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
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America 2012: A Nation at Risk
Submitted by berlet98 on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 1:56am.
America 2012: A Nation at Risk
“Stuff” is happening in America today that our country has rarely witnessed in our 224 year old history and none of it is propitious for our future.
True, we have suffered through other major crises, but never so many at the same time.
We survived the Revolution and early wars and revolts against our nationhood; we weathered a bloody Civil War; we eventually overcame the Great Depression; we struggled through the upheavals of the Civil Rights Movement the Viet Nam War protests; we mostly recovered from the horrors of September 11th, 2001; we lost thousands of our brave troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and some believe we actually won those wars.
However, we have never endured so many contemporaneous, dire threats to our national security, our fiscal future, our way of life, our cherished values, and our national character as we are witnessing today.
America made a grave mistake in November, 2008, a terrible mistake which, in the brief span of three and a half years, has served to greatly intensify those dire threats.
To be sure, the election of President Barack Hussein Obama did not incite crazed Muslim terrorists to launch an unprovoked war against the “Great Satan” and the entire Western world; that war has been ongoing for decades and has been smoldering for centuries.
What Obama has done is to minimize the magnitude of the dangers posed by Islam and has catered to, literally bowed to, the very Muslim potentate whose country hatched and financed 9/11.
He declared that a war on terrorism didn’t exist and then announced that the non-existent war was over by virtue of the defeat of al-Qaeda and our supposed victories in Iraq and Afghanistan, neither of which is a valid assumption.
He established domestic security measures which are more smoke and mirrors than actual safety nets. Perhaps the most telling feature of this commander-in-chief’s perspective on Americans’ safety was his 2010 concession to Fareed Zakariah that we are “resilient” enough to “bounce back” after nuclear attacks.
We were woefully unprepared for the Second World War. We are far more vulnerable in this, the Third World War, thanks to our president.
Should we somehow succeed in overcoming Muslim forces intent on destroying the America we love, we would still have to contend with the Great Recession, an economy which began to implode in 2008 and which shows few signs of real recovery.
The Obama administration’s total disregard for fiscal sanity and racking up trillions of dollars in unprecedented national deficits and debt has already cost the United States its long-standing AAA credit rating with no hope of paying our bills in sight.
The administration’s obsession with socialistic social programs such as food stamps, multi-billion dollar boondoggles and bailouts, and oppressive environmental regulations have stifled job growth and fostered dependency among the millions of the poor and the unemployed.
In brief, our economy and our society are a critical mess, a disaster as beneficial to Obama’s re-election prospects due to that widespread dependency as it is destructive of the human spirit.
Wars and rumors of war combined with economic malaise would be more than sufficient to effect America’s downfall. Unfortunately, there’s much more on our dismal plate: The social fabric which is supposed to bind us together and define us as a nation is disintegrating as rapidly as the integrity of our borders. . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=23948.)
Tempus 2012: A Commenter at Risk
Submitted by TempusFugit on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 1:59am.
Of death by spam. Can't something be done about this spammer? Sheesh!
Bravo, Tempus!
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 2:42am.
I know the guy posts conservative-friendly content, but even I would be more sympathetic if he would at least make an effort to post original material (and still link his website) instead of simply copying and pasting his own blog on multiple NB threads. He's been getting away with blatant spamming for months.
Jer
Not unlike a house lib spamming lefty stuff for ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 3:42am.
59 months, eh? :o)
MD
There was another guy here
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 6:14am.
There was another guy here for a while doing the same thing not long ago. I even contacted the admins about him and nothing was done.
He did stop after a while, so maybe they finally acted, or he just got tired.
The kicker in that story (and
Submitted by Bettendor on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 8:58am.
The kicker in that story (and it was noted in one of the reports I saw on this) is that the reason for the "surplus" was only because of the high number of checks coming in because April 17 was Tax Day. Things should return to the long debt that we have been seeing (and apparently continued in April regarding of the "surplus") this month.