$1.5 Trillion in Deficit Savings Would Stabilize the Debt Over the Coming Decade

[Bill USA]

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3900

Policymakers could stabilize the public debt over the coming decade with $1.5 trillion in additional deficit savings, according to the Center’s updated calculations, which are based on the new budget projections that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released this week. Policymakers could achieve these savings with $1.3 trillion in policy savings (that is, spending cuts and tax increases), which would generate about $200 billion in savings in interest payments. The $1.5 trillion in total savings would stabilize the debt at 73 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over the latter part of the decade (see Figure 1).[1]

CBO’s newest budget projections reflect its current economic forecast, the effects of the recently enacted “fiscal cliff” budget law (the American Taxpayer Relief Act, or ATRA), and the shift from a ten-year budget period that covers fiscal years 2013-2022 to one covering 2014-2023. In calculating the savings needed to stabilize the debt over the coming decade, the Center used CBO’s new projections and made several adjustments, which most other budget analysts also make, to better reflect the costs that would accrue if policymakers continue current policies.



The fact that $1.5 trillion in deficit savings, rather than a much larger amount, would stabilize the debt over the coming decade[2] is due primarily to two factors. First, the President and Congress have enacted substantial deficit reduction over the two-plus years since the Bowles-Simpson report and Rivlin-Domenici task force outlined deficit-reduction proposals; policymakers have enacted nearly $1.5 trillion in spending cuts for appropriated programs (mainly through the annual caps enacted in the 2011 Budget Control Act) and nearly $600 billion in revenue increases in ATRA. Including the related savings in interest payments, policymakers have achieved about $2.35 trillion in deficit reduction so far. These estimates cover the ten-year budget window of 2013-2022. Over the new budget window of 2014-2023, the same policies will produce estimated savings of $2.75 trillion (see Table 1).


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Second, CBO’s economic and technical projections have improved over the past few years. Not counting the reductions in discretionary funding and the savings from ATRA discussed above, the new projections reduce estimated deficits under current policies by about $750 billion over the coming decade, relative to CBO’s forecast of March 2012. Relative to CBO’s August 2010 forecast, which the Bowles-Simpson and Rivlin-Domenici panels relied upon for their reports, the new economic and technical projections reduce estimated deficits by about $1.3 trillion.
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[truedelphi]

1. My suggestion remains as it has always been -

Get the damn money from the Damn Biggest of Financial Firms and Biggest of Bankers.

Since we know, following the Bernie Sanders agreed upon audit of the Federal Reserve, that some 15 to 16 trillions of dollars went to these firms, and even after the dust settles, with various entities weighing in and trying to say these were all overnight loans, the real experts say some 4.7 trillions of dollars of these loan monies will never ever be repaid.

So capture those amounts. Most people I know are far more terrified of the Wall Street types running our nation into the ground, than Al Queda. If the US government can flag the bank holdings of various entities like the state of Iran, and member of Bin Laden's family etc, ad re-capture those holdings, then why not do the same to the Big Bankers and Big Financial Interests?

And for Pete's sake - legalize marijuana. Ninety five percent of all drug users of illicit substances do only marijuana. Stop spending billions of dollars of money harassing users. Since the Department of Justice doesn't ahve the stomach to go after the high flying fruit like HSBC, even when we know that Bank Corp is laundering the drug cartels' monies, then have the DOJ and DEA stop harassing tax paying citizens.