I got the following information from both MarketWatch (which is itself a holding of Wall Street Journal and thus, Rupert Murdoch) and Fox News, though one would hardly notice, given the incredible spin (which I have taken the liberty of putting in italics. I have also underlined the information that should actually be reviewed as substantive:
"(MarketWatch) - The U.S. government's budget deficit was $91 billion in August, the Treasury Department said Monday, as the federal government again spent more than it brought in.
Receipts were $164 billion, while outlays totaled $255 billion. The August shortfall was 13 percent less than recorded a year ago.
The deficit is nearly $1.3 trillion in the first 11 months of the fiscal year, the Treasury report also showed Monday. That is $111 billion or eight percent lower than the same period in fiscal 2009.
Congressional analysts predict this year's deficit will be the second largest in the past 65 years, just behind last year's"
I don't know about you but the facts that I take away from this are:
1. The 2009 budget was actually set in 2008 by the Bush administration ** who, according to the above report, set the highest deficit record in 65 years. Of course, FOX fails to tell us this part, knowing that most Americans prefer having the story spoon-fed rather than finding out for themselves.
2. The first budget set out by the Obama administration has reduced the budget deficit by 111 BILLION dollars, lowering it by 8% over the 2009 Bush set budget.
3. The first budget set out by the Obama administration closed the shortfall gap by 13%.
**See:http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/documents/2008/bushfy2009budgetbriefanalysis020508.pdf
This is confirmed by an article in Daily Finance:
"Although the 9.6% U.S. unemployment rate doesn't reflect it, August's deficit report points to a modestly improving budget picture -- one that reflects a slowly recovering U.S. economy."
Another item that brings this image into even more focus and clarity is the fact that Bush's budget did not include the two unfunded wars, the tax cuts or the unfunded prescription drug plan. Given that President Obama has reconfigured these items to be a part of the budget, one would think that the deficit would have grown even more by the addition. The fact that his administration has had some success in closing the deficit gap even with these inclusions is, in this economy, a rather astounding demonstration of stewardship.
Why isn't the corporate media a little more eager to let "we the people" know that such a significant improvement has been made? I mean, c'mon, I got this information from Pres. Obama's most worst critics, trying their damnedest to present it in the worst possible light! We see/hear all of these Republican hopefuls talk an awful lot about reducing the budget and runaway government spending ..that they inflated... while President Obama and his team are actually reducing the deficit, and not getting any credit or making political hay out of it. Instead the media reports the 2nd WORST budget in 65 years, and that the Fed is spending more money than it brought in (which is hardly "news" as it has been ongoing since long before any of us were ever born.) Instead the information is spun in such as way as to stir up and prey upon the fears that the American people have over all of the debt we are facing in this tough economy. This is simply irresponsible and insidious ...and borders on sedition, as far as I'm concerned.
