Obama sees first Budget Surplus of Presidency!

[QueenB4Liberty]

The Obama administration saw its first monthly budget surplus in April, with the federal government recording $58 billion, according to figures released by the Congressional Budget Office.

MarketWatch reports:

The surplus -- the first of Barack Obama’s presidency -- was the result of both increased tax collection and lower government spending.
Prior to April, the federal government's last surplus dates back to September 2008.

Pressuring Congress, President Barack Obama is laying out an election year "to do" list Tuesday that urges lawmakers to take another look at economic proposals to promote job creation and help families refinance their mortgages.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/president-obama-budget-surplus_n_1499266.html

Ok, someone explain to me how this is possible? I mean, obviously it's not real. We spend $50,0000 a second. We're still drowning in debt and the value of the dollar is continuing to plummet. But how do you explain this to a liberal that's excited to see "Obama's first surplus"

[hard@work]

But how do you explain this to a liberal that's excited to see "Obama's first surplus"


obviously it's not real. We spend $50,0000 a second. We're still drowning in debt and the value of the dollar is continuing to plummet.

There ya go.

[QueenB4Liberty]

lol It's really that simple? I just don't know how these people function in real life.

[Ranger29860]

I'm gonna take a swing at this and see if I can figure it out.

Its obviouse this is some sort of month to month report. So you have April which is tax time and a increase in government revenue. Couple that with a plan to decrease spending enough in april so that tax revenue helps make a surplus. This is how I would do it if I wanted to be able to brag about a surplus for a month in an elections year.

All that is gonna happen is next month we are going to see a massive decrease in tax revenue and a increase in programs cost that were simply "pushed" back till this month. This is the equivlent of me saying because I pushed my electric bill off to next month that I made 100 dollars more this month. Knowing full well I will have to still apy that cost and the next months so now ill have 100 less next month. Not to mention all the little hidden cost of putting off a bill like that.

But of course most Americans won't take two seconds to figure out whats going on and simply thing Obama has saved the day again.

[nano1895]

58 billion down...another ~15 trillion to go...

[ghengis86]

I'm gonna take a swing at this and see if I can figure it out.

Its obviouse this is some sort of month to month report. So you have April which is tax time and a increase in government revenue. Couple that with a plan to decrease spending enough in april so that tax revenue helps make a surplus. This is how I would do it if I wanted to be able to brag about a surplus for a month in an elections year.

All that is gonna happen is next month we are going to see a massive decrease in tax revenue and a increase in programs cost that were simply "pushed" back till this month. This is the equivlent of me saying because I pushed my electric bill off to next month that I made 100 dollars more this month. Knowing full well I will have to still apy that cost and the next months so now ill have 100 less next month. Not to mention all the little hidden cost of putting off a bill like that.

But of course most Americans won't take two seconds to figure out whats going on and simply thing Obama has saved the day again.

We have a winner!

From ZH:
This afternoon the CBO reported a number that in itself is quite remarkable: in April, a preliminary estimate of US receipts and outlays showed that the US Treasury posted its first budget surplus in 42 months, or since September 2008. At $58 billion, the surplus was nearly $100 billion more than the the $40 billion deficit from a year earlier. Unfortunately, while superficially this number would have been worthy of praise, digging underneath the surface as always reveals 'footnotes'. Sure enough, in the aftermath of February which saw a record US deficit of $232 billion and March's $198 billion in net outlays, there was a "catch." As the CBO admits: "This April, the Treasury realized a surplus of $58 billion, CBO estimates, in contrast with the $40 billion deficit reported for the same month last year. The results in both years were influenced by timing shifts of certain payments; adjusted for those shifts, the surplus in April 2012 would have been $27 billion, compared with a deficit of $13 billion in April 2011.... The federal government incurred a budget deficit of $721 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2012, $149 billion less than the shortfall reported during the same period last year. Without shifts in the timing of certain payments, however, the deficit so far this year would have been only $92 billion smaller." In other words, without various temporal adjustments, the April surplus of $58 billion would have been completely netted out by the cumulative $57 billion in deficit time shifts. However, in an election year, every beneficial item such as this is an extended talking point as the president will gladly take the praise for a number which is indicative of anything but the underlying US financial "health." After all, others can bother with the explanations.

More at http://www.zerohedge.com/news/us-posts-first-budget-surplus-42-months-and-it-less-meets-eye

[The Gold Standard]

lol It's really that simple? I just don't know how these people function in real life.

It means they didn't write as many checks this month, and got a lot of tax money in. They will make up for it, don't worry.