Latest 2015 Budget Estimates Point to a Sixth Consecutive Year of Deficit Reduction

The White House predicts this year's budget deficit will register at $455 billion, less than it forecast in February and the lowest yet of Barack Obama's presidency.

The new figure is slightly less than 2014's deficit of $483 billion. In February, the administration predicted a deficit of $583 billion.

During Obama's first term, deficits topped $1 trillion each year. That reflected a severe financial crisis and the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

But as the economy has recovered, revenues have gone up. The rates of inflation for expensive health care programs like Medicare have fallen and annual agency budgets have remained tight, contributing to the improved deficit picture.

The 2015 budget year officially ends on Sept. 30.

The White House on Tuesday slashed its fiscal 2015 deficit forecast to $455 billion, down $128 billion from its last estimate in February, due to new calculations of higher revenues and lower spending.

The Mid-Session Review budget update shows that the White House is now expecting real gross domestic product to rise by just 2.0 percent during calendar 2015. This is down from 3.0 percent estimated in February based on data collected before severe winter weather ground the economy largely to a halt in the first quarter.

The White House also reduced its fiscal 2016 deficit estimate by $45 billion to $429 billion, or 2.3 percent of gross domestic product. The deficit peaked in 2009 amid a deep recession at $1.41 trillion, or 9.8 percent of GDP.

The reductions stem from an increased rate of revenue collection and technical revisions based on recent tax reporting data, partially offset by the weaker economic forecast, which is now largely in line with private sector forecasts.

In total, the White House increased fiscal 2015 revenue estimates by $72 billion from the February forecast, while the spending estimates fell by $56 billion, largely due to slower-than-expected outlays across a range of programs.

These include a $7 billion reduction in Social Security because fewer than expected younger beneficiaries are drawing benefits. The White House now projects an additional $229 billion reduction in Social Security spending over the next 10 years because of new, lower inflation assumptions that will slow cost-of-living increases.

The White House's new $455 billion fiscal 2015 deficit estimate is now below the $486 billion gap forecast by the Congressional Budget Office in March. CBO is expected to update its forecast in August.

The White House's improved budget forecast comes as Congress faces a contentious budget debate this autumn over funding for the new fiscal year starting on Oct. 1 and an increase in the federal debt limit that will be needed a few weeks later.

The report did not provide any estimates on when the U.S. Treasury is expected to exhaust its remaining borrowing capacity under special cash management measures.

PkrBum wrote:More bs... he flushed the money of future generations down the toilet and into banks, corps, and wall st.

Floridatexan wrote:

"...The events and policies that pushed deficits to these high levels in the near term were, for the most part, not of President Obama's making. If not for the Bush tax cuts, the deficit-financed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression (including the cost of policymakers' actions to combat it), we would not be facing these huge deficits in the near term. By themselves, in fact, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will account for almost half of the $18 trillion in debt that, under current policies, the nation will owe by 2019.[1] The stimulus measures and financial rescues will account for less than 10 percent of the debt at that time..."

http://www.cbpp.org/research/downturn-and-legacy-of-bush-policies-drive-large-current-deficits?fa=view&id=3914

PkrBum wrote:Obama finally got below bush2's worst year... congratulations comrades. We all lose.

HISTORICAL BUDGET DEFICITS:

Year...........Deficit

2014 483,000,000,000

2013 680,276,000,000

2012 1,089,193,000,000

2011 1,296,791,000,000

2010 1,294,204,000,000

2009 1,415,724,000,000

2008 454,798,000,000

2007 161,527,000,000

2006 248,197,000,000

2005 318,746,000,000

2004 412,845,000,000

2003 377,139,000,000

2002 157,791,000,000

colaguy wrote:And yet, the National Debt Clock keeps spinning - now at over $18 Trillion.  Actually, that's $18,300,000,000,000.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

The DEFICIT is an ANNUAL thing.  

The DEBT is with us for potentially DECADES.

PkrBum wrote:Pfft... bush2 left about half of the bailout to obama and then obama tacked on another 250b stimulus.

It's amazing how much you can ignore to believe what you wish so desperately to believe...  that's useful idiotism fer ya.

boards of FL wrote:

PkrBum wrote:Pfft... bush2 left about half of the bailout to obama and then obama tacked on another 250b stimulus.

It's amazing how much you can ignore to believe what you wish so desperately to believe...  that's useful idiotism fer ya.

You just tried to sweep Bush II's worst budget year into the Obama column and now you're throwing out phrases like "useful idiotism."  

Bush inherited perenniel surpluses and turned that into a $1.4 trillion dollar deficit.  Obama inherited a $1.4 trillion dollar deficit and we have since seen that slashed by nearly 70%.  And here you are suggesting that Bush II was better in terms of fiscal management while throwing out terms such as "useful idiotism."

I would argue that your post represents the height of "useful idiotism."

The Man Comes Around wrote:

boards of FL wrote:

PkrBum wrote:Pfft... bush2 left about half of the bailout to obama and then obama tacked on another 250b stimulus.

It's amazing how much you can ignore to believe what you wish so desperately to believe...  that's useful idiotism fer ya.

You just tried to sweep Bush II's worst budget year into the Obama column and now you're throwing out phrases like "useful idiotism."  

Bush inherited perenniel surpluses and turned that into a $1.4 trillion dollar deficit.  Obama inherited a $1.4 trillion dollar deficit and we have since seen that slashed by nearly 70%.  And here you are suggesting that Bush II was better in terms of fiscal management while throwing out terms such as "useful idiotism."

I would argue that your post represents the height of "useful idiotism."

The only reason the budget is starting to go down is because the House Of Representatives holds the purse strings. We all know which party controls the House. While the Senate is divided enough at this time to lack support for all the current presidents little projects like 'free community college for all', more subsidies for clean energy companies like Solyndra, bullet trains projects that cost ten times the amount of normal rail, etc, etc, etc...

boards of FL wrote:

The Man Comes Around wrote:

boards of FL wrote:

PkrBum wrote:Pfft... bush2 left about half of the bailout to obama and then obama tacked on another 250b stimulus.

It's amazing how much you can ignore to believe what you wish so desperately to believe...  that's useful idiotism fer ya.

You just tried to sweep Bush II's worst budget year into the Obama column and now you're throwing out phrases like "useful idiotism."  

Bush inherited perenniel surpluses and turned that into a $1.4 trillion dollar deficit.  Obama inherited a $1.4 trillion dollar deficit and we have since seen that slashed by nearly 70%.  And here you are suggesting that Bush II was better in terms of fiscal management while throwing out terms such as "useful idiotism."

I would argue that your post represents the height of "useful idiotism."

The only reason the budget is starting to go down is because the House Of Representatives holds the purse strings. We all know which party controls the House. While the Senate is divided enough at this time to lack support for all the current presidents little projects like 'free community college for all', more subsidies for clean energy companies like Solyndra, bullet trains projects that cost ten times the amount of normal rail, etc, etc, etc...

Well which is it then?  Is the narrative that the budget is terrible because of Obama?  Or is the budget a success because of the House?

You republican apologists should probably get your bullshit narrative straight before participating in political discussions.

Floridatexan wrote:

"...The events and policies that pushed deficits to these high levels in the near term were, for the most part, not of President Obama's making. If not for the Bush tax cuts, the deficit-financed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression (including the cost of policymakers' actions to combat it), we would not be facing these huge deficits in the near term. By themselves, in fact, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will account for almost half of the $18 trillion in debt that, under current policies, the nation will owe by 2019.[1] The stimulus measures and financial rescues will account for less than 10 percent of the debt at that time..."

http://www.cbpp.org/research/downturn-and-legacy-of-bush-policies-drive-large-current-deficits?fa=view&id=3914

boards of FL wrote:

PkrBum wrote:Obama finally got below bush2's worst year... congratulations comrades. We all lose.

HISTORICAL BUDGET DEFICITS:

Year...........Deficit

2014 483,000,000,000

2013 680,276,000,000

2012 1,089,193,000,000

2011 1,296,791,000,000

2010 1,294,204,000,000

2009 1,415,724,000,000

2008 454,798,000,000

2007 161,527,000,000

2006 248,197,000,000

2005 318,746,000,000

2004 412,845,000,000

2003 377,139,000,000

2002 157,791,000,000

Bush II's worst year was 2009 and we have never came close to that deficit since..  You understand how budgets work, right?  2009 was Bush's final budget, and Obama has more than cut that in half.