OT: Correction regarding deficit (was RE: Negotiating)

[Combs, Richard]

Al Geist wrote: 

> everything.  I don't
>    like paying taxes, but with the national deficit growing 
> by leaps and
>    humongous bounds, rest assured that they (taxes) will be 
> rising rather than
>    falling (regardless of what any politician or political says).

In the interest of preventing the propagation of misinformation, I must
offer the following off-topic correction. 

The deficit has dropped like a rock since the 2003 tax cuts. In the past
three years, tax receipts have soared by over 35%. The deficit has been
cut in half -- which the Bush administration promised to do by fiscal
2009 (its final budget) -- three years early. 

If revenue goes up in the next 3 years by just 70% of the past 3 years'
rate, and if federal spending and economic growth are in line with
Congressional Budget Office projections, that 2009 final Bush budget
will show a surplus. That is, if we can keep Congress from enacting a
growth-killing tax increase. 

Supply-side tax cuts are powerful things -- they can even work their
economy-stimulating and revenue-enhancing magic in the face of a war and
a sad lack of fiscal restraint. :-)

For details and links to sources, see this October 8 BizzyBlog post: 
http://www.bizzyblog.com/2006/10/08/the-federal-budget-deficit-mission-a
ccomplished-perhaps-a-lot-more-to-come/ 

Richard


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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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