Why the Federal Budget Matters

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@Jason: Re the factcheck article, if you look up deficit figures, you will find that the deficit did go to zero during Clinton's administration. But, if you look up debt figures, you'll see that the total federal debt outstanding continued to rise during the Clinton years. Since debt is (by definition) the accumulation of deficits, these two data sets are mutually contradictory. The resolution is in the fine print: The Clinton deficit figures count money the government borrowed from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds as revenue.
This isn't a dishonest calculation, but it has implications. To count deficits the way they do in the factcheck article requires admitting that the government intends to default on its Social Security and Medicare obligations.

Davies of PA 3:00PM March 21, 2012

http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-budget-and-deficit-under-clinton/

Jason McKinnon of CA 1:55PM March 21, 2012

You don’t have to worry about Democrats budget. They DON’T HAPPEN. DEMOCRATS had majority in House, Senate, and there was buma Oct. 1, 2010 when budget was due. __ NO ACTION __. Since Oct. 1, 2010 __ NO ACTION __. STILL receiving you pay up there Democrats ???
Oh, buma did come out with a budget. Not even Democrats wanted to pass THAT.
Yeah you will have a Republican budget to kick around. Not sure about a Democrat one !!!
By the way, you won’t be making many friends/comments on this liberal site with:
“According to the Congressional Budget Office, the middle class pay about 14 percent of their incomes in taxes compared to 30 percent for the richest 1 percent of Americans”...

Bill Hedges of MO 4:48PM March 20, 2012