January 12, 2006
GIVE US BACK OUR MONEY:
Corporate Taxes, Gov't Spending Hit Records (MARTIN CRUTSINGER, 1/12/06, AP)
The federal government posted the first budget surplus for December in three years as corporate tax payments hit an all-time high, helping offset a record level for spending, the Treasury Department reported Thursday.The department said in its monthly budget report that government receipts surpassed spending by $10.98 billion last month. A year ago, the government ran a deficit of $2.85 billion in December.
As the war winds down we run the risk of going into surplus again, which was disastrous for the economy last time. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 12, 2006 3:16 PM
More $$ comes in:D.C. spends more $$. huh.....
Naw. Probably just coincidence.
Posted by: John Resnick at January 12, 2006 3:28 PMOh, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Posted by: erp at January 12, 2006 4:55 PMThe media factor isn't there right now to pump up the irrational exhuberance, as Mr. Greenspan might say. While you can find the ucrrent numbers getting their due in a few select financial publications, the majorty of folks who do not subscribe to those will mostly see and hear the big media sites talking down the economy at least for the next few years, given the occupant of the White House.
During the late Clinton years, when the deficit vanished and the economy boomed, the same folks were more than willing to buy into the notion that the tradiional business cycle had been repealed by the "new" economy and the market had nowhere to go but up, to the point that millions were given over to tech/Internet companies that were based not on actually producing anything more than ideas that might catch on with the public. Any stories about similar growth today are inevitably coupled either with the words "bubble" or "benfitting only the rich" -- stuff like that may not completely fool the public, but it does add a little balast to the economy.
Posted by: John at January 12, 2006 7:11 PMWhat are your thoughts on how conniving some of the guys of Enron were? I got to tell you, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room totally opened my eyes about the depths of their deceit. It seems fraud is surrounding us.
Posted by: K at January 12, 2006 8:18 PMThey were thieves who deserved what they got. But note that they committed fraud in order to pay too much in taxes.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 12, 2006 9:13 PMPay down the national debt: the savings in interest alone will pay for the required doubling of the military to take on China.
Posted by: Ptah at January 13, 2006 10:51 AMP:
The world economy would tank if we started paying down debt.
Posted by: oj at January 13, 2006 11:32 AM