2018 Fed Deficit to be $1.38 trillion

[_Kevin Graham]

Hmmm...

How do we blame Obama for this.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-ex ... 2018-10-29

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Hmmm...

How do we blame Obama for this.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-ex ... 2018-10-29

How much debt do you feel is acceptable, or are you a proponent of austerity?

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

Hmmm...

How do we blame Obama for this.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-ex ... 2018-10-29

How much debt do you feel is acceptable, or are you a proponent of austerity?

- Doc

Kevin traditionally has been very dovish about deficits, so I interpret these posts either to a change of heart now that Trump is president or, more likely, a frustration with the hypocrisy of pretending to care about deficits only when Democrats have power and different spending priorities.

I'm much more of a deficit hawk, but even if I wasn't, I'd still be quite upset about Republicans playing a game where they spend like drunken sailors when they have power, then using concerns about the deficit to thwart Democratic policy when they are out of power. I'd also be annoyed at the extent to which Republican deficit spending has ballooned way over what you'd expect from traditional economic boom/bust cycles in order to finance tax cuts aimed almost entirely aimed at wealthy - especially given how much dishonest claims about those cuts paying for themselves was used to sell them.

But I am a hawk, and this is maddening to me. We don't have a limitless capacity to monetize our debt and this bill will come due.

[_Kevin Graham]

Kevin traditionally has been very dovish about deficits, so I interpret these posts either to a change of heart now that Trump is president or, more likely, a frustration with the hypocrisy of pretending to care about deficits only when Democrats have power and different spending priorities.

Yep, the second part hit the nail on the head. I've never been a deficit hawk.

[_cinepro]

But I am a hawk, and this is maddening to me. We don't have a limitless capacity to monetize our debt and this bill will come due.

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating to me too.

On The Deficit, GOP Has Been Playing Us All For Suckers

[_Kevin Graham]

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating to me too.

On The Deficit, GOP Has Been Playing Us All For Suckers

I'm stunned that people actually believed them to begin with. The leftists predicted this would happen many years ago. That's all they talk about really whenever the deficit issue arises. Primarily, Republicans purposefully increase the deficit to create a crisis big enough to justify their true intentions, which is to cut spending for government programs that benefit the poor people. Mitch McConnell is already beating that drum in a recent interview saying Social Security is our largest expenditure. He doesn't have the intellectual honesty to point out that it isn't discretionary, but rather mandatory spending because it is self funded.

[_schreech]

But I am a hawk, and this is maddening to me. We don't have a limitless capacity to monetize our debt and this bill will come due.

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating to me too.

On The Deficit, GOP Has Been Playing Us All For Suckers

The fact that Trumpologists consider Trump conservative is laughable.

[_DarkHelmet]

I don't pretend to be an expert on fiscal policy, but it seems to me that when unemployment is at it's lowest level in over 40 years, and the economy is the strongest it has ever been in history, the budget deficit should NOT be $1.38 trillion. Is it crazy for me to think that?

[_Res Ipsa]

I don't pretend to be an expert on fiscal policy, but it seems to me that when unemployment is at it's lowest level in over 40 years, and the economy is the strongest it has ever been in history, the budget deficit should NOT be $1.38 trillion. Is it crazy for me to think that?

Nope. Responsible fiscal policy would have been to raise taxes or cut spending at the time that the Republicans passed their tax cut. Cutting taxes when unemployment is relatively low is like throwing gasoline on the nice, comfortable fire in your fireplace. It was predictable that the Fed would respond by raising interest rates to avoid inflation. Add to that the effect of tariffs and threatened tariffs, uncertainty as to trade agreements and trading partners, and a the soaring deficit, and the markets get a little pessimistic.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Not that my opinion matters all that much, but I wish our debt was <$10T right now. I get the reason why economists are pro-debt, or at the very least happy to debt-finance a war or get us out of a recession, but I feel like we're in 'madness territory' and as EA suggests, the bill will come due. Either the dollar devalues much, much quicker than it should thus damned up our purchasing power, or goods along with services will start to increase in cost quickly, thus damned up our purchasing power.

I hope I'm wrong. But history has shown us over and over again too much debt too quickly crushes currency.

- Doc