HTownAg98 said:

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BusterAg said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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Depends what the actual budget is. But you know that.

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Well, pretend i don't have a budget, if i go $5,000 into debt, and its the only debt I have, is that a lot?

Depends on my income, no?

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When your spending exceeds your revenue by roughly 40%, it's a problem regardless if your deficit is $5,000 or $2,000,000,000,000.
The idea that we can grow our way out of this is the dumbest economic idea that has been posted on this forum in a long time. In theory, it is the only thing we could do, but it completely ignores the numbers when you run the math and see how much gdp would have to be to accomplish that.

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Yep. It's mathematically not even possible without some extreme accelerator thrown into growth.

And save me on AI and robotics being that although that is the theoretical Hail Mary that people are putting their hopes on.

DeschutesAg said:

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YouBet said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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YouBet said:

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TexasAggie73 said:

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But, but what about our $5000 checks after the election? He promised those, didn't he ?

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Only if they win. Another data point in favor of them realizing they likely are not going to win.

Otherwise, you can't announce a debt reduction plan after mid-terms that would actually add another $1.2T in spending.

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Trump's promised handout of $1.2T + the $0.5T spending increase for Hegseth's requested additional DoD spending + the $2.0T annual deficit that is already baked into the next FY budget year that started on October 1st.

Adds up to a $3.7T deficit in the coming year if Trump and Hegseth get their druthers.

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He's not getting the $5k handout. No way Congress votes for that. That's just talk.

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So Trump is lying again.

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No, he can still propose it to Congress and will have done his part. Nice TDS induced failure……as usual.

HTownAg98 said:

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Quote:

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Bessent acknowledged that the deficit has increased somewhat this year, attributing much of the increase to tariff refunds while also citing the Iran war and high interest rates.

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Pointing to paying back what was deemed an unconstitutional tariff is wild. It also admits that somehow the original collection in the prior year wasn't anywhere close to eliminating income tax or the deficit like we were promised. This admin is putting its skis on. There's a shark out there to jump.

Is he planning on presenting this plan to a Democrat House in January ?
Such a joke !

Texas12&0 said:

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Didn't realize they had already cut the annual deficit from 6.7% to 5.7% of GDP. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. I voted for stuff like this.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/scott-bessent-newsmax-policy-summit-federal-debt-plan/2026/10/08/id/1272202/

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No administration has any interest in cutting the deficit. Trump would like to but too many brick walls. The rest love the swamp and don't want the money to stop flowing.

The Republican Congress has been a joke. They do their best when not in power ranting about what they would do if they ever were in power! They hated the idea of doge as well!
The only fight that happens in Congress is where and who the money gets sent to!

B-1 83 said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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YouBet said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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YouBet said:

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TexasAggie73 said:

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But, but what about our $5000 checks after the election? He promised those, didn't he ?

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Only if they win. Another data point in favor of them realizing they likely are not going to win.

Otherwise, you can't announce a debt reduction plan after mid-terms that would actually add another $1.2T in spending.

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Trump's promised handout of $1.2T + the $0.5T spending increase for Hegseth's requested additional DoD spending + the $2.0T annual deficit that is already baked into the next FY budget year that started on October 1st.

Adds up to a $3.7T deficit in the coming year if Trump and Hegseth get their druthers.

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He's not getting the $5k handout. No way Congress votes for that. That's just talk.

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So Trump is lying again.

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No, he can still propose it to Congress and will have done his part. Nice TDS induced failure……as usual.

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There is a point where making a proposal that has 0 chance of happening is lying
Pointing out that Trump says **** all the time that is not true , not going to happen , not within his Executive Authority, defies basic laws of economics ( for example who pays tariffs) is not always TDS

& btw Trump did not say he would propose to Congress he said he would get every American a $5,000 check and this most recent PR stunt with the $500 ACA related checks and the $90 Medicare checks is an attempt to make the $5,000 checks seem plausible

Sq 17 said:

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B-1 83 said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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YouBet said:

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DeschutesAg said:

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YouBet said:

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TexasAggie73 said:

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But, but what about our $5000 checks after the election? He promised those, didn't he ?

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Only if they win. Another data point in favor of them realizing they likely are not going to win.

Otherwise, you can't announce a debt reduction plan after mid-terms that would actually add another $1.2T in spending.

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Trump's promised handout of $1.2T + the $0.5T spending increase for Hegseth's requested additional DoD spending + the $2.0T annual deficit that is already baked into the next FY budget year that started on October 1st.

Adds up to a $3.7T deficit in the coming year if Trump and Hegseth get their druthers.

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He's not getting the $5k handout. No way Congress votes for that. That's just talk.

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So Trump is lying again.

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No, he can still propose it to Congress and will have done his part. Nice TDS induced failure……as usual.

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There is a point where making a proposal that has 0 chance of happening is lying
Pointing out that Trump says **** all the time that is not true , not going to happen , not within his Executive Authority, defies basic laws of economics ( for example who pays tariffs) is not always TDS

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What? Thats a nonsensical slippery slope. Why should anyone ever propose anything then? How many things in history happened because someone had the balls to zig when everyone else zagged?

What a ridiculous thing to say.

aggiedent said:

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Texas12&0 said:

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Didn't realize they had already cut the annual deficit from 6.7% to 5.7% of GDP. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. I voted for stuff like this.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/scott-bessent-newsmax-policy-summit-federal-debt-plan/2026/10/08/id/1272202/

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Cut???? Nothings been "cut" and spending has steadily increased. Might want to ask yourself this…….how can the deficit continue to soar but it decrease relative to GDP? And there's the real answer. Stop looking at the hand the magician wants you to look at.

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The federal work force had been reduced. THATS A CUT.

Hell USAID being cut saved $50 billion per year. THATS A CUT.

Saying nothing has been cut is silly.

Science Denier said:

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aggiedent said:

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Texas12&0 said:

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Didn't realize they had already cut the annual deficit from 6.7% to 5.7% of GDP. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. I voted for stuff like this.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/scott-bessent-newsmax-policy-summit-federal-debt-plan/2026/10/08/id/1272202/

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Cut???? Nothings been "cut" and spending has steadily increased. Might want to ask yourself this…….how can the deficit continue to soar but it decrease relative to GDP? And there's the real answer. Stop looking at the hand the magician wants you to look at.

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The federal work force had been reduced. THATS A CUT.

Hell USAID being cut saved $50 billion per year. THATS A CUT.

Saying nothing has been cut is silly.

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If you cut spending by x, but also increase it by x + 1, you haven't cut spending. HTH

Jeeper79 said:

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Science Denier said:

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aggiedent said:

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Texas12&0 said:

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Didn't realize they had already cut the annual deficit from 6.7% to 5.7% of GDP. Will be interesting to see what they come up with. I voted for stuff like this.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/scott-bessent-newsmax-policy-summit-federal-debt-plan/2026/10/08/id/1272202/

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Cut???? Nothings been "cut" and spending has steadily increased. Might want to ask yourself this…….how can the deficit continue to soar but it decrease relative to GDP? And there's the real answer. Stop looking at the hand the magician wants you to look at.

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The federal work force had been reduced. THATS A CUT.

Hell USAID being cut saved $50 billion per year. THATS A CUT.

Saying nothing has been cut is silly.

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If you cut spending by x, but also increase it by x + 1, you haven't cut spending. HTH

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Both of you are correct.

You said nothing had been cut. That's factually false. Had you replaced that with overall spending hasn't gone down, then that would be correct.

Trump has cut things he can control. The Doge cuts he recommended were not implemented. So, that has to be fixed by voters. And it's happening. Several guys like Cornyn have been removed. It's going to take time but another 4 more years after Trump could do a lot.

This is why the RINO's fear Trump. He's involved in the replacement. It's hard, but he's doing it.

Dude note: if the RINO's are successful with the idiotic Paxton is evil narrative, we are back to totally screwed. If Texas cant boot out a chief RINO like Cornyn. the other RINOs wont fear anything.

HTownAg98 said:

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BusterAg said:

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Can someone find the rest of this quote? Seems important:

Quote:

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"What we have to do is a combination of a spending constraint," Bessent said, arguing that the administration had already made progress in reducing deficits.

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The end of that sentence seems like it might be important.

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Quote:

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Bessent acknowledged that the deficit has increased somewhat this year, attributing much of the increase to tariff refunds while also citing the Iran war and high interest rates.

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Unfortunately, deficits are measured in actual dollars, not percentages against another factor.

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Percentages aid in normalizing the data for inflation.

The common theme is cutting spending, whether you want to raise taxes or lower them, neither works long term unless you cut spending. SSN/Medicaid/Medicare painful changes and you have a losing platform to run on and whatever you do could be reversed in the next session.

It's hard to imagine anything other than a 'reset' to get out of the cycle.

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the debt take up all the money the government takes in via taxes.

You could eliminate all spending on everything else the government does (defense, welfare, foreign aid, education, etc.) and at best you would break even.

Everything the government does that isn't entitlement transfer payments necessarily runs a deficit.

So you either have to enact serious entitlement reform (not going to happen), or you have to cut current services (also not going to happen).

The absolute best you can hope for from the clown show government we have is spending staying the same year over year. Problem there is the COLA increases on SS will absolutely go up due to the inflation the government willfully caused.

If the government could just simply "grow GDP" on demand we would never have a recession.

Jeeper79 said:

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Wait I was told on here that Trump can't be held responsible for spending, and that the problem was all congress. So how does he get credit for reducing the budget deficit? Which is it?

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Regardless of who gets credit this is a tiny glimmer of hope we aren't headed into the abyss where permanent austerity results

YouBet said:

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TexasAggie73 said:

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But, but what about our $5000 checks after the election? He promised those, didn't he ?

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Only if they win. Another data point in favor of them realizing they likely are not going to win.

Otherwise, you can't announce a debt reduction plan after mid-terms that would actually add another $1.2T in spending.

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No....YOU can't.

Don't you friggin' try limiting El Rey Trumpo!!!!!!!1

Sq 17 said:

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CascadiaAg said:

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annie88 said:

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Is it not still before the election?

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Save the eye roll.
It is literally in the first paragraph of the article

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that he and President Donald Trump are preparing a plan to reduce the nation's mounting deficits that they expect to unveil after the midterm elections

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Will they also be announcing a healthcare plan to replace the ACAat the same time?

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No clue. We have to pass it to see what's in it.

If you trust Trump, or any of the other 98% of folks in DC, to show restraint in spending, you're going to be disappointed.

He might cut something, but I guarantee you he will find somewhere else to spend that 'saved' money. It'll be hailed as budget neutral, even though there will be a massive deficit.

IMO its futile to discuss addressing the debt and pretending it will ever be paid back.

So we might as well start in on the speculation of what a default looks like and the consequences thereof. It'll be a whole new world for sure, and if the US defaults then others will surely follow. The likelihood of a "great reset" is far more likely than the US and other in debt countries ever getting out of debt the "easy" way.