Reply #3: These are the numbers I am looking at... [View All]

[dkf]

http://www.hfma.org/templates/blogpost.aspx?id=25039

The federal budget deficit will rise to nearly $1.5 trillion, or 9.8 percent of GDP, in 2011, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2011 through 2021. The deficit’s share of GDP is nearly 1 percent higher than last year, and almost the same as it was in 2009, which was the highest share of GDP in nearly 65 years. CBO expects budget deficits to be much lower over the next few years, representing 7 percent of GDP in 2012, 4.3 percent in 2013, and 3.1 percent in 2014. This assumes, however, that current laws governing taxes and spending won’t change and that the large cut in Medicare rates for physicians occurs as scheduled at the end of 2011, for example, and that the extensions of lower tax rates sunset at the end of 2012. In addition, revenues as a share of GDP are expected to rise from 15 percent in 2011 to 21 percent by 2021, making projected deficits much smaller relative to GDP in the future.

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12039/01-26_FY2011Outlook.pdf

Please note that this assumes sunset of all the Bush/Obama cuts the majority of which were tax cuts for the middle class Where are you getting your numbers from?