Thing One:
From FRED, a graph showing the Federal budget surplus and deficit, long term:
That's a big drop, over there on the right.
That's what those people (over there on the right) are complaining about.
They're not complete idiots, in case you were wondering.
The Main Thing:
Look at those recession bars!!!
2 comments:
Redo the same graph as a percentage of nominal GDP. It is much more interesting. The deficit goes up in every recession. The only difference is that this last recession was a real doozy.
This is because, without additional govt spending, the tax receipts go down in a recession. If govt. spending increases, the tax receipts may not go down. However austerity, and cutting govt. spending will not (with 100% certainty) make the deficit come down as a percentage of GDP.
Done.
The two things I found fascinating on the graph above are
1. the almost-square-corner of the trend line, and
2. the recession bars up to the 1930s. The graph background is more gray than white in those years.
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