Let the good times roll -- 146,000 new jobs added

[Lawrence of Arabia]

and another interesting fact - it was around the time that we started running budget deficits that we also started running TRADE deficits, reducing our savings.

thats real good for our future isnt it.

[Drake Tungsten]

SHRINKING DEFICITS: The trade deficit is down:


The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in May to $55.3 billion as exports rose slightly to a record and imports retreated a bit from the record set in April, a U.S. government report showed on Wednesday.

The smaller-than-expected trade gap suggested stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth in the second quarter and could help persuade the Federal Reserve to remain on a path of steadily rising interest rates.


And so is the budget deficit:


Based on revenue and spending data through June, the budget deficit for the first nine months of the fiscal year was $251 billion, $76 billion lower than the $327 billion gap recorded at the corresponding point a year earlier.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that the deficit for the full fiscal year, which reached $412 billion in 2004, could be "significantly less than $350 billion, perhaps below $325 billion."

The big surprise has been in tax revenue, which is running nearly 15 percent higher than in 2004. Corporate tax revenue has soared about 40 percent, after languishing for four years, and individual tax revenue is up as well.

Most of the increase in individual tax receipts appears to have come from higher stock market gains and the business income of relatively wealthy taxpayers.


Hmm. Weren't people telling us just recently that the budget deficit was growing because wealthy taxpayers were paying less? Apparently they were in error.

http://instapundit.com/archives/024230.php

[Lawrence of Arabia]

WOW BIG SURPRISE!!! WHEN YOU LOWER THE BUDGET DEFICIT YOU ALSO LOWER THE TRADE DEFICIT. anyone who knows their **** will tell you that (infact i bet i mentioned it IN THIS SAME THREAD). and thats a corrolation. provable in models. unlike their voodoo-make-up-****-as-i-go-along-economics.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

of course that article does not prove any corrolation between decreased taxes and increased output. in fact, every classical economics model will tell you that it leads to crowding out. but dont let the facts get in the way.

[Drake Tungsten]

It's real good for our future though, isn't it?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

hell yea! but its not how much you bring in, its how much you spend.

[Drake Tungsten]

We're in agreement on that. The falling deficits are a good thing, but the government still needs to rein in spending.

[DanS]

as i said earlier, no corrolation has been PROVEN betwee a reduction of taxes for the rich and an INCREASE in growth (especially during a recession), only causality

I'm baffled by your post. I think you mean that only corrolation has been proven, but not causality. But in any event, both causality and correlation have been proven on a short term basis. The net effect becomes negative in the mid to long term, however, as private capital is crowded out. The IMF included a good treatment of the impact in its World Economic Outlook a year or two ago.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
The job total looks somewhat impressive. But the real question are the types of jobs seeing gains. After all, your new McDonald's worker sure as hell isn't going to make as much as, say, an experienced construction worker or computer programmer.

Gatekeeper

I don't know if it has been mentioned yet, but most of these new jobs are tied to real estate in some way shape or form.