“Non-social Security Deficit with Additional Items” in 2017 May Exceed $760 Billion

The House Committee on the Budget projects this to grow to $761 billion by 2017. What is the non-social security deficit with additional items? The additional items include the cost of extending the tax cuts and realistic defense spending projections. While Max Sawicky objects, he notes:

Democrats say the “true size of the deficit” should include the Social Security Trust Fund surplus. This bumps up the $172 billion FY2007 deficit up to $362b.

OK, the Trust Fund surplus is counted as a revenue source for the government as Max notes. I trust Max does not agree with rightwingers and this White House that this revenue should be devoted for extending tax cuts for the rich as opposed to funding the Social Security benefits through 2050 or so.

While Max suspects there is more nonsense in this document, we should note that the Democrats have thoroughly rejected the Laugher Curve nonsense that reducing national savings is good for long-term growth.

Update: What this report does is similar in spirit to something Kash wrote and I tried to use to extrapolate where the total Federal debt to GDP ratio would be heading. My attempt to do this suggested that we might hit a debt to GDP ratio near 75% by 2017 but as I read this report’s forecast, they are suggesting it will still be just shy of 70%. So maybe the House Democrats are being optimists wit what “an effort to jump up the number and hype fiscal crisis”.

To be fair – this forecast assumes we continue with Bush’s fiscal folly, which always promises things will get better only to find out things become worse then we could ever imagine. Yes – only two more years to our nightmare.