Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: U.S. budget deficit shrinks by over $200 billion, reaches 4-year low

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/12/14399005-us-budget-deficit-shrinks-by-over-200-billion-reaches-4-year-low
 
 
U.S. budget deficit shrinks by over $200 billion, reaches 4-year low
 
As the job market improves and unemployment falls, one of the central 
attacks from Romney/Ryan against President Obama has to do with the 
deficit. The attack overlooks Paul Ryan's role in creating the massive 
deficit, the inconvenient fact that Romney hasn't presented a 
deficit-reduction plan, and the problem that the Romney/Ryan agenda 
would appear to make the deficit significantly worse, but that's their 
story and they're sticking to it.
 
It's worth noting, then, that as of today, the U.S. federal budget 
deficit has shrunk -- a lot.
 
I put together this new chart 
(
http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=steve-benen57CD2902-6D92-9061-2E25-AB4623F0ABDE.jpg&width=600
) 
reflecting the deficit over the course of the last four years. It starts 
with the figures released in 2009, when the deficit reached a record 
high of $1.4 trillion. Why is the column in red? Because, thanks to 
fiscal years, Obama inherited a deficit of nearly $1.3 trillion from 
Bush/Cheney the moment he took the oath of office.
 
This year, however, according to the official data published by the 
Treasury Department, the deficit was $1.089 trillion.
 
When the president's critics spin this, they'll say, "The deficit was 
over $1 trillion again," and that will be accurate. What the criticism 
fails to note, however, is that (a) the deficit is now much smaller than 
it was when Obama took office; (b) this is the smallest deficit we've 
seen in four years; (c) this new figure represents an improvement of 
over $200 billion since last year; and (d) the main drivers of the 
remaining deficit are Republican policies.
 
I should note that all of this is predicated on the assumption that 
deficits are something bad to be avoided, and that a shrinking deficit 
is necessarily encouraging news. There's a competing school of thought 
-- which I'm sympathetic to -- that suggests the deficit is currently 
too small, and that given economic conditions, interest rates, and the 
current yield of Treasuries, we should be borrowing far more and 
investing that money in job creation.
 
But for the purposes of political conversation, such an argument is 
probably a non-starter; the public has come to believe a deficit that's 
getting smaller is good news.
 
If so, Obama has something to brag about -- very few presidents of the 
last generation can say they managed to shrink the deficit by over $200 
billion, even during difficult economic times.
-- 
Namib
--
I have examined maps of the city with the greatest care, yet have never 
again found the Rue d'Auseil (HPL)

 (
http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=steve-benen57CD..
.)

Fantastic un deficit di 1.1 trilion su un PIL di 15 siamo all' 8% del
PIL.
Neanche Minchionne arriva tanto in alto.
La Cina intanto cresce di quasi l'8%.
 
Andiamo a 106% di debito federale, senza contare quello delle
amministrazioni locali.
 
E ora cominciano i tagli, 1 trilion all'anno, forse Obama licenzia
qualche centinaio di Al Quaeddini torturatori?
 
Io eleggerei Hu Jin Tao