AI
Tuesday, January 01, 2013 6:01:31 PM
snoot,
< 2012 spending was like 3.8 trillion with a 1.3 trillion deficit >
The most recent numbers I could get at the U.S. BEA is for the end of the 3rd quarter of 2012. The 4th quarter just ended yesterday so those numbers are not yet available.
You are pretty close on the spending number of $3.8T. Your deficit number is a ways off, though (not that it matters that much). In the table below I have the deficit as being a little less than $1.1T, inflation adjusted at the end of 2012Q3. Using the numbers in that table, the ratio of 2012q3 Deficit to Current Receipts is 40.7%. I think that is the more important number -- your 34% was Deficit relative to Expenditures. There are interactive info charts/data at BEA. Everyone should go there once in a while to play around with those.
Keep in mind the date on that figure you commented on, shown in the lower right corner as 2007. GAO is the Government Accountability Office, and that chart was prepared in 2007 as a projection. Today is 5-6 years later. Nobody is very good at projections. I don’t have any clue what things are going to be like 5-6 years from now. Even so, it’s pretty easy to show from historical data that total government spending (local, state and federal) is growing at a rate higher than Real GDP, and that’s a big problem sometime in the future. We can determine that from accurate historical numbers. If we don’t pay close attention, we will become a Greece. Maybe they’ve given the world more than Democracy.
Throughout my whole life, without thinking about it I would always say I am an optimist regarding mankind’s future. It was only a few days ago that I realized that I had become a pessimist and I don’t know when that happened and I don't see it changing back very soon.
< 2012 spending was like 3.8 trillion with a 1.3 trillion deficit >
The most recent numbers I could get at the U.S. BEA is for the end of the 3rd quarter of 2012. The 4th quarter just ended yesterday so those numbers are not yet available.
You are pretty close on the spending number of $3.8T. Your deficit number is a ways off, though (not that it matters that much). In the table below I have the deficit as being a little less than $1.1T, inflation adjusted at the end of 2012Q3. Using the numbers in that table, the ratio of 2012q3 Deficit to Current Receipts is 40.7%. I think that is the more important number -- your 34% was Deficit relative to Expenditures. There are interactive info charts/data at BEA. Everyone should go there once in a while to play around with those.
Keep in mind the date on that figure you commented on, shown in the lower right corner as 2007. GAO is the Government Accountability Office, and that chart was prepared in 2007 as a projection. Today is 5-6 years later. Nobody is very good at projections. I don’t have any clue what things are going to be like 5-6 years from now. Even so, it’s pretty easy to show from historical data that total government spending (local, state and federal) is growing at a rate higher than Real GDP, and that’s a big problem sometime in the future. We can determine that from accurate historical numbers. If we don’t pay close attention, we will become a Greece. Maybe they’ve given the world more than Democracy.
Throughout my whole life, without thinking about it I would always say I am an optimist regarding mankind’s future. It was only a few days ago that I realized that I had become a pessimist and I don’t know when that happened and I don't see it changing back very soon.
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
