The deficit is down

[lamboguy]

the United States government has just caught the biggest decrease in deficit in this century. it was over $1trillion, now $600 billion. this economy has increased in a big way along with the revenues especially after the tax increase.

this good news won't last if the interest rates move up as little as 1%. the average person has gone backwards this whole century, but the large corporations are at full steam and the markets are now at highs.

[JustRalph]

800 billion be printed out of whole cloth, every month.

This gets more scary by the minute.........

[HUSKER55]

IF the USA stopped printing money would that hurt or help the situation. I am thinking it would help. Less money more value.

just asking

[classhandicapper]

IF the USA stopped printing money would that hurt or help the situation. I am thinking it would help. Less money more value.

just asking

It would hurt in the short term but help in the long term.

[ArlJim78]

I like to see evidence of the "economy increasing in a big way". By what measure?

[classhandicapper]

I like to see evidence of the "economy increasing in a big way". By what measure?

I would not trust a single economic number or projection coming out of Washington. Almost all the methodologies for that data are cooked. But they keep pretty good tabs on tax receipts and actual debt issuance. I would focus on that and corporate profits. Even though corporate profits at some companies are often cooked also, in general the trend will be telling.

[Clocker]

IF the USA stopped printing money would that hurt or help the situation. I am thinking it would help. Less money more value.

just asking

It would hurt the federal government budget situation. The Federal Reserve monetary policy is keeping interest rates very low. Because of the low rates, the Treasury has been borrowing more and more in short term debt than usual. But that debt has to be refinanced much more often than the usual long term debt.

If the Fed stops pushing money into the market, interest rates will go up, and the Treasury will be refinancing debt at higher and higher rates. We currently pay about $500 billion a year in interest on the debt. A return to "normal" market interest rates could double that.

[Clocker]

I like to see evidence of the "economy increasing in a big way". By what measure?

The economy is not increasing in a big way. It is growing slowly. The deficit is down because there is some growth in the economy that results in more taxes. Revenues are also up over previous levels because of the expiration of the payroll tax cuts. And spending is down because of the sequestration.