Numbers That Don't Add Up

As a bean-counter by day, I work with income statements and balance sheets.  My numbers must be correct and part of the process is checking for reasonableness.  As a country, we all need to be checking for reasonable numbers when we make our voting decisions.  I have included 2 charts below that are from the Facebook page of the economist Steve Rattner.  

Politicians are notorious for ignoring the hard fiscal decisions.  This irresponsibility was most recently manifested in the last tax bill passed by the current congress.  According to the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget Group blog post from July 18, 2018, "President Trump's first budget (for FY 2018) projected a $526 billion deficit in 2019 under its policies.  The FY 2019 Mid-Session Review released last Friday revises his current budget to $1,085 billion deficit in 2019.  That's an increase of roughly $560 billion, or more than double."  The blog post emphasizes that the increase is due to both the tax cuts and increased spending.

In order for everyone to understand how hard it is to balance the federal budget, here is a link to an online tool that allows you to adjust tax revenue and expenses for the federal government as you see fit and then view the results to the budget. This is provided by the non-partisan Committee for Responsible Federal Budget group.  They have a Facebook page if you are interested in further information. 

While political opinions vary widely on many issues, I would bet that most of us could agree that the government should be balancing the budget.  If we want improved infrastructure, better health care services, more resources for educating our children, more money for our military branches or trying to ensure the future viability of social security for our retirees then we all need to be discussing the realistic choices of how to make these things happen.  

After all, we as individuals have to live within our own budget constraints.  We are paying elected officials to represent our desires.  Make sure your choices for elected officials will stand up for the fiscal responsibilities that are facing us today.