The federal government just posted its largest budget deficit since 2013 and, as one might guess, members of the Trump regime have an absurd explanation for the high number.
The federal government’s gap grew to $665.7 billion in the 12 months through Sept. 30, compared with a $585.6 billion shortfall in fiscal 2016, the Treasury Department said Friday in a report released in Washington. That was in line with the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of $668 billion.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, in a statement accompanying the report, blamed weaker-than-expected tax receipts on historically “sub-par” economic growth.
"Sub-par" economic growth, you say?
I'm old enough to remember when Trump bragged (last month) about the economy growing at an annualized rate of 3 percent during the second quarter of the year. That kind of growth is consistent with growth seen at multiple points during the Obama administration. Not-coincidentally, fiscal policy has barely changed at all since then.
Trump regime toadies Mnuchin and Mulvaney are right that tax receipts are down, but why are they down?
It has nothing to do with economic growth. The rich are currently withholding their taxes because they expect to receive a massive tax cut in the near future. And won't that be great for the federal deficit?
Senate Republicans just voted to pass a budget proposal that creates space to add another $1.5 trillion to the deficit.
Trump also just cut off cost-sharing subsidies for insurers. That could add another $200 billion to the deficit.