Word: deficits
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...government spending in much the same way that patriotism is called the last refuge of scoundrels. The obscure word, which looks like a refugee from a crossword puzzle, means seizure, and that is what happened last week. President Bush directed all federal agencies to meet the budget-deficit- reduction targets specified by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law by imposing $16.1 billion in across-the-board spending cuts. Worthy domestic-spending programs such as subsidized housing were cut the same 5.3% as pork-barrel projects like the Agricultural Extension Service. Under sequestration, the Defense Department faces a 4.3% chop, with important...
...fiscal 1990, the law required Congress to produce a budget with a deficit of less than $110 billion. Despite the Administration's optimistic forecasts of continued strong economic growth and lower interest rates plus some fiscal legerdemain, congressional efforts fell $6.1 billion short...
Trouble started in the spring, when congressional leaders and the Bush Administration began putting together a deal. The President's goal was to keep his read-my-lips campaign promise of "no new taxes." Congressional leaders wanted to appear to meet deficit-reduction targets without cutting any politically popular spending programs. Budget director Richard Darman came up with a solution that was simple -- too simple. A cut in the capital-gains tax would at least temporarily raise money to cover the revenue shortfall. Many Democrats at first supported the plan that looked like all gain, no pain...
...fact, when it comes to economic policy, the Administration appears to care little about deficit reduction. The White House seems to care only about keeping Bush's no-new-taxes pledge. Administration officials like to point to Darman's optimistic economic assumptions and deficit predictions as well as the relatively good business climate. Bush has not uttered a word about the budget deficit in weeks...
...becoming more a part of the problem than a part of the solution." Sasser says the law has the Government keeping two sets of books: one devised to meet Gramm-Rudman, "which is a useful fiction to give the illusion of progress," and another that shows the real deficit. The real deficit for fiscal 1990 will not be $110 billion but more like $230 billion. Fancy bookkeeping like a $65 billion loan from the Social Security trust fund to the Treasury keeps the total down...