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You are here: Home / Whitehall Watch / How to calculate the deficit: Can’t Anyone in Congress Count? (by John Weeks)

How to calculate the deficit: Can’t Anyone in Congress Count? (by John Weeks)

Colin Talbot By Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted: August 15, 2011

“In my last comment I demonstrated that the US public debt is not very large, and its annual servicing quite small.  It occurred to me (and to several people who wrote to me in response to my comment), that it might be illuminating to carry out a similar exercise for the annual public deficit.  You are likely to be under the impression that the US budget deficit is more than ten percent of GDP, in excess of US$ 1.6 trillion in 2010.  Or, as a Tea Party Republican might put it, $1.6 trillion!!!”

To read the rest of this excellent analysis go here

About Colin Talbot

Colin Talbot is a Professor of Government, a former Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee and the Public Administration Select Committee and has appeared as expert witness many times in Parliament, the Scottish Parliament and NI Assembly. He's also advised Governments from the USA to Japan.

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