Editorial: Bush and media playing "deficit" games again
All this week, President Bush, his advisers and have numbers that project the federal deficit to be less this year than in 2006. Again, these are just projections, which the White House has had a reputation of over-hyping. For example, the Administration projected a deficit in July of $35 billion, even though released this morning put the actual number an entire $1.4 billion higher.
But the real issue is the Administration's reluctance to inform Americans about what the word "deficit" actually means. When they say the deficit is shrinking, many people think, "Oh great, all that money we owe will soon be erased." That is not at all the case.
The words "deficit" and "debt" have two different meanings. "Deficit" refers to the amount of liabilities over assets over a certain period of time. "Debt" is the all-time remainder of liabilities over assets. So when Bush says the deficit is shrinking, that does not mean our debt is shrinking as well. Instead, it means the rate of increase to the debt is shrinking, but the debt itself is still growing.
In 2004, President Bush said he would cut the deficit in half by 2009. What that really means, if that actually happens, is the National Debt will still rise, but just by half as much that year.
So now that we all have this clear, no matter how much the annual deficit decreases, it is impossible for President Bush to cut the National Debt in half. He will still preside over the largest debt increase in our nation's history.
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