Economics Magazine

$253.5B- Federal Debt Increased Almost 6 Times More In February Than Fiscal 2013 Sequester Cuts

Posted on the 05 March 2013 by Susanduclos @SusanDuclos

By Susan Duclos
While the sequester is made up of $85 billion in so-called spending cuts, the actual amount of those cuts for fiscal year 2013 is $44 billion. The remainder of the cuts will be attributed to 2013 but will "occur in later years."

“By CBO’s estimate, budgetary resources for defense (other than spending for military  personnel) will be cut by around 8 percent across the  board, and nondefense funding that is subject to the  automatic reductions will be cut by between 5 percent and 6 percent,” said CBO. According to that estimate, discretionary outlays will drop by $35 billion and mandatory spending will be reduced by $9 billion this year as a direct result of those procedures; additional reductions in outlays attributable to the cuts in 2013 funding will occur in later years.”

Quick Flashback to statement made by Barack Obama- "The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic." (Video below the post)
According to the U.S. Treasury, In February alone, the federal debt rose  by $253.5 billion.
At the close of business on Jan. 31, 2013, the federal debt was $16,433,791,850,294.04, according to the U.S. Treasury. At the close of business on Feb. 28, 2013, the federal debt was $16,687,289,180,215.37. Thus, the federal debt increased $253,497,329,921.33 during the month.

CNS News:
Bottomline: In February alone, the government borrowed nearly 6 times as much as it intends to save with the sequester over the rest of the fiscal year.

For all the caterwauling we keep hearing about how painful the sequester cuts will be, the amount is a drop in the bucket compared to how much we continue to borrow and spend each day, month and year.
Reminder from CBS News: "National Debt up $6 Ttrillion since Obama took office"
It's the largest increase to date under any U.S. president. During the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush, the debt soared by $4.9 trillion.
Without fanfare, the Bureau of Public Debt at the Treasury Department quietly posted its daily debt report showing the total public debt of the U.S. government topped $16.687 trillion. (To be exact: $16,687,289,180,215.37)
On January 20, 2009, the day Mr. Obama took office, the debt stood at $10.626 trillion. The latest posting reflects an increase of over $6 trillion.

Now watch the 39 second video flashback quoted above.

By Obama's own standards and words, if Bush was "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic" for allowing the U.S. to accrue $4..9 trillion of debt in eight years, what does that make Obama for increasing the nation's debt over $6 trillion in just four years?


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