Comments for If the Deficit Disappeared, Where Would the Deficit Hawks Find Work? at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 3 out of 3 comments http://www.cepr.net Thu, 23 May 2013 23:32:29 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/if-the-deficit-disappeared-where-would-the-deficit-hawks-find-work#comment-20075 Ack, sorry about the no tabs thing. 2000 20.6 18.2 0.9 2001 19.5 18.2 -0.3 2002 17.6 19.1 -3.0 2002 16.2 19.7 -4.9 2004 16.1 19.6 -4.9 2005 17.3 19.9 -4.0 2006 18.2 20.1 -3.3 2007 18.5 19.7 -2.5 2008 17.6 20.8 -4.5 2009 15.1 25.2 -11.1 That's revenue, spending, and deficit as percent GDP. - MacCruiskeen Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:16:51 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/if-the-deficit-disappeared-where-would-the-deficit-hawks-find-work#comment-20074 Hey Dean, where did you get that data? I just downloaded the historical budget data spreadsheet from the CBO website and it gives higher values for the deficits as a percent of GDP (of course, in absolute dollars, the deficits were rising, not shrinking, during that time): 200020.618.20.9 200119.518.2-0.3 200217.619.1-3.0 200316.219.7-4.9 200416.119.6-4.9 200517.319.9-4.0 200618.220.1-3.3 200718.519.7-2.5 200817.620.8-4.5 200915.125.2-11.1 Source: Congressional Budget Office - MacCruiskeen Sat, 10 Nov 2012 04:06:20 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/if-the-deficit-disappeared-where-would-the-deficit-hawks-find-work#comment-20068 Hey that is a terrific graph--is it correct to assume government spending is Medicare/medicaid mostly? The decreases are really striking. I have read some of this elsewhere but this is the first time I've seen the numbers in context. Absolutely anybody interested in not seeing programs cut need to emphasize these trends--the average person does not understand the way that "future" deficits are calculated and how easily the numbers can be manipulated or just wrong. - Jennifer Reft Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:15:56 +0100