US Conservatism=3 Fundamentalisms

[30ashopper]

Internal book keeping?

Each President is accountable for the entire amount increased during their presidency. It does not matter if it is interest, if they are inheriting expensive programs or wars, if it is Congress's fault, or any other excuse.

The buck stops there!

The federal government uses general accounting and a general fund, so intergovernmental lending is irrelevant. It's simply money transferred from one account to fund another. It all starts from one big pot. Intergovernmental debt also can't default. As I said, it's just an accounting trick, the only money government is actually borrowing comes from bonds issued to the public. That's what *we* owe interest and principal on.

For example, a common misconception about Clinton’s tenure is that he generated a budget surplus. He only did this if you ignore intergovernmental debt, because he was borrowing from social security to pay for other things. With intergovernmental debt taken into account, Clinton ran deficit every year for eight years. He did however produce a surplus in his last year if you ignore intergovernmental borrowing.

 

[idlewind]

The federal government uses general accounting and a general fund, so intergovernmental lending is irrelevant. It's simply money transferred from one account to fund another. It all starts from one big pot. Intergovernmental debt also can't default. As I said, it's just an accounting trick, the only money government is actually borrowing comes from bonds issued to the public. That's what *we* owe interest and principal
For example, a common misconception about Clinton’s tenure is that he generated a budget surplus. He only did this if you ignore intergovernmental debt, because he was borrowing from social security to pay for other things. With intergovernmental debt taken into account, Clinton ran deficit every year for eight years. He did however produce a surplus in his last year if you ignore intergovernmental borrowing.

I prefer to call it chinese accounting or better yet fraudulent accounting.