Too bad this administration has no plan to reduce the deficit. They will continue to blow it up, like virtually every administration before them. The DOGE “cuts” will be dwarfed by the increase in military spending and revenue loss due to tax cuts and lack of IRS enforcement against tax cheats.
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Two other things:
Republicans in Congress want no part of the DOGE cuts.
GOP balks at approving even a fraction of Musk’s DOGE cuts
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/02/musk-doge-cuts-congress-budget/
And we’re already off to a bad start: We’ve spent $200 billion more since Trump took office than in the same period last year.
Somebody should tell the Republicans how bad the deficit is. I thought I remember them complaining about it up until a few months ago. I wonder what changed?
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David Hume and Adam Smith explained why this isn’t true.
lol, you all went from telling me why David Hume and Adam Smith said deficits are FREE to how Republicans are not doing enough. Pretzel twisting.
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…says the man who continues to conflate a budget deficit with a trade deficit…
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Unfortunately, many federal workers lost their jobs because republicans just idly watched Trump/Musk make those cuts. No ‘approval’ necessary. But complicit, for sure.
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I wish I could like this a bazillion times.
I am amused that people don’t understand that tariffs are related to trade deficits. Liberals are suffering from Trump derangement syndrome.
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Related, certainly. All I’m pointing out is that the Republicans came into office screaming that spending was out of control and that federal spending must be curtailed. Yet their actions are resulting in increased spending and an increased budget deficit.
That’s a different issue than the US trade deficit, which results from the US buying more foreign goods than the US exports. As US dollars flow out of the country (trade deficit), those dollars come back into the country as investments (capital surplus). That capital surplus can either be directly into US private assets (factories, farms, housing) or to a very large degree into US treasuries. The US uses that capital influx to pay for our budget deficit. That’s the relationship.
So if the US institutes a tariff policy designed to abruptly halt the US trade deficit, it will also halt the capital influx. Where do you propose to get the money needed to pay for the budget deficit once you choke off the flow of foreign capital buying treasuries? Because the Republicans certainly aren’t showing any capability of eliminating the budget deficit; quite the contrary.
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They are, if the nation runs trillion dollar budget deficits…
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What would happen if we tried to very abruptly change those very large trade and capital flows?
Flows which are directly connected to the large US budget deficits and debt?
Which took decades to create?
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In fiscal year 2019, the U.S. federal government spent approximately $4.4 trillion and collected $3.5 trillion in revenue, resulting in a budget deficit of $984 billion, or 4.6% of GDP.
- Social Security: ~$1 trillion
- Medicare: ~$650 billion
- Defense: ~$700 billion
- Interest on debt: ~$380 billion
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services was $576.9 billion
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In fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024), the U.S. federal government spent approximately $6.8 trillion and collected $4.9 trillion in revenue, resulting in a budget deficit of $1.8 trillion
- Social Security: ~$1.46 trillion
- Health (including Medicare): ~$912 billion (Medicare alone ~$870 billion)
- Net interest on debt: ~$950 billion (gross interest exceeded $1 trillion)
- Defense: ~$826 billion
- Education: $309 billion (new increased spending)
2024: The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services reached $971.1 billion
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Biden created a fake economy where Government spending went on steroids and printed trillions. The hole is too big and wide. It will take YEARS to fix and requires GDP growth.
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Yes it will. So why are the Republicans slashing income to the government and increasing spending?
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Lots of economic turmoil, both domestically and abroad. Shortages domestically, leading to price increases and inflation. Job losses abroad, leading to recessions. Lots of ripple effects. Eventually economies find their equilibrium, although you might not like the resultant society.
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Err, you do remember that a little thing called COVID happened in there?
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Biden and Democrats made a massive mess.
Tariffs are now increasing revenues. DOGE is slashing spending ($165B and counting).
You all should stop listening to the stupid economists that say $Trillion trade deficits are a good thing for the country.
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The House passed budget bill calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for next 10 years, or $450 billion per year. DOGE’s debatable savings are $165 billion. And according to the Tax Foundation, the tariffs may raise $163 billion for the year. That makes the revenue loss larger than the savings plus tariffs.
Add in the proposed $150 billion increase to the military budget and the $175 billion proposed for more border security. I see the deficit getting bigger, not smaller.
I’ve never claimed that a trillion dollar trade deficit is a good thing. But it is a necessary thing if the nation can’t rein in the ever increasing budget deficit.
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Whatever. Let’s talk in two years. My prediction is for ever larger deficits and corruption on an unimaginable scale. Good luck, you’re gonna need it.
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It’s disappointing that some people around here lack the ability to distinguish facts from propaganda. DOGE will cost more than it saves, all the while cutting medical research, IRS enforcement, veterans benefits, etc. Facts are not political.
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DOGE posts everything on the website Doge.gov. Vested interests just don’t part with taxpayer freebies and corruption money.
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And independent fact checks show that it’s a bunch of crap, not that that’s important or anything.
DOGE website offers error-filled window into Musk’s government overhaul
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/doge-website-offers-error-filled-window-into-musks-government-overhaul-2025-03-04/
DOGE Makes Its Latest Errors Harder to Find
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/us/politics/doge-errors-funding-grants-claims.html
I know, I know, everybody’s lying except Musk and Trump, both of whom have a sterling reputation for telling the truth.
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