What's the deficit now? Is it still a big issue for Republicans?

[Blue3]

1. What's the deficit now?
(Last I heard, it was under $900b)

2. Is it still a big issue for Republicans?

[IceSpear]

It never was a big issue for them. They only started caring about it on January 20, 2009.

[Matty]

It's still a huge issue. The current shrinkage is only temporary, as the CBO reports. There have been no meaningful efforts on either side to deal with it. The 4% tax increase is going straight towards Obamacare.

This country is 17 trillion in debt, and there will be a deficit, a large one, for a long long time.

[Miles]

It never was a big issue for them. They only started caring about it on January 20, 2009.

[GaussLaw]

This is a little off topic, but I have noticed that the debt and deficit clocks/calculators on different sites give pretty significantly different figures depending on the site.  I am wondering if there is one that is considered truly official.

[bedstuy]

I want to say it's around $500 billion, but I could be off by a decent amount.  This is one of those issues where people say they care to sound smart, but they have no clue what they care supposedly care about.  The deficit problem is more a problem of our bloated, inefficient military and healthcare sectors.  Obama's term was been dedicated to fixing those two areas and he's done a fantastic job, all things considered.

[Blue3]

It's still a huge issue. The current shrinkage is only temporary, as the CBO reports. There have been no meaningful efforts on either side to deal with it. The 4% tax increase is going straight towards Obamacare.

This country is 17 trillion in debt, and there will be a deficit, a large one, for a long long time.

There was the tax hikes on the rich, and the sequester cuts, as well as Obamacare reforming part of Medicare.

[ElectionsGuy]

The deficit is $574 B and going down, though past 2014 it will probably go up again, and the debt is $17.6 T. Honestly republicans only care about debt when they have nothing else to blame Obama for, they never once cared about it 2001-2008, just ignore the doubling of the debt by Bush and blame it all on Obama.

In any case though, actual conservatives and libertarians who don't suck up to a political party really do care about it, and it is a big issue to them.

[Blue3]

I care about the deficit too, Democrats just have a different way to approach it.

But it does seem that since it's gone down, Republicans in DC barely talk about it, when they used to talk about it nonstop.

[GaussLaw]

The deficit is $574 B and going down, though past 2014 it will probably go up again, and the debt is $17.6 T. Honestly republicans only care about debt when they have nothing else to blame Obama for, they never once cared about it 2001-2008, just ignore the doubling of the debt by Bush and blame it all on Obama.

In any case though, actual conservatives and libertarians who don't suck up to a political party really do care about it, and it is a big issue to them.

It does depend on the type of Republican.  For instance, Tom Coburn ran against the deficit in his 2004 Senate campaign, as did groups like Citizens Against Government Waste.

The problem is that these people, while they do support great spending cuts, they oppose any revenue increases, making it tough to tackle a deficit.

[Matty]

Gausslaw, I too have noticed that different sites give way different numbers. My only explanation is that maybe some sites have "down" periods, which delays the increasing numbers.

[user12345]

It never was a big issue for them. They only started caring about it on January 20, 2009.

[AggregateDemand]

It never was a big issue for them. They only started caring about it on January 20, 2009.

It was never an issue because they knew they were headed towards deficit stability, which they achieved during Bush's second term. Until 2008, we were running deficits, but the stimulative effect was big enough to hold constant the debt to GDP ratio.

As of right now, we still have spiraling debt. The deficit is larger than GDP growth rates, and interest is crowding out investment for future generations. The Obama deficits are not producing growth rates similar to previous administrations because Obama has chosen to follow the statutory schedules for government spending, choosing to raise taxes on the wealthy, rather than fight corruption and WFA as he promised.

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[AggregateDemand]

What's your point?

If a president cuts taxes by $200B, but revenues rise by $100B, the CBO says $300B should have gone to pay down the debt. Presidents are punished for promoting economic growth. If a president actually paid down $300B worth of debt, the CBO would not attribute potential revenue contraction to paying down the debt.

CBO determines matters of budget. Their economic analyses are of limited value, hence the existence of the BEA.

[Orser67]

I imagine we'll see the issue of the deficit come back into play in a big way after the mid-terms, when the debt-ceiling deal ends. I think Republicans want to avoid picking too many battles before the mid-terms.

I think it's an interesting debate just how much Republicans actually care about the deficit. There are definitely some Republicans who primarily care about the debt, or at least view it as an issue worth addressing on its own. There are also plenty of Republicans who are more interested in cutting the size of government, and view the debt as a secondary issue (e.g. "starve the beast"). I'm not really sure which view is more popular among Republicans and Congressional Republicans.

[Roemerista]

Page 8. In the Extending baseline scenario, by 2040 we will be spending more on the interest of our debt than we will be on Medicare & Medicare. However in the next ten years, we have made a pretty good chip at the deficit.  

While I understand why the CBPP does not list the healthcare or social security payments--they are a larger factor than any defense outlays.

http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/662489.pdf