Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(Special Edition - Mid February 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
State of the Economy.
 President
Bush, on the 3rd of February 2003 sent Congress a $2.2
trillion dollar Budget. (What does two trillion dollars
look like, well here it is $2,278,804,000,000 --- figure
that one out). Fiscal year 2002 budget has an expenditure
over income “deficit” of $156B dollars, versus
the year 2001 budget “surplus” of $127B, (give
or take a few hundred million), and that does not include
the costs of financing a war and the aftermath of such
a war. Administration officials have estimated the costs
of a war against Iraq to be as high as $200 Billion. Fiscal
year 2003 budget calls for cuts in a wide range of domestic
programs but includes $41B for domestic security and $380B
for defense spending. The President’s budget projects
that the deficit will hit record highs in this fiscal
year of 2003 of $304B and $307B in fiscal year 2004, (which
begins in October of 2003), and will amount to $1.08 trillion
dollars deficit over the next five years.
I can see why the Democrats were immediately up in arms
and described the budget to be fiscally irresponsible
and stated instead of offering the nation a plan for long
term economic stability and prosperity the President’s
budget burdens the American people with trillions of dollars
in new debt.
 Of
course the Democrats have not come up with what I consider
to be a more fiscally responsible program of their own.
Mr. Ari Fleischer the White house spokesperson blamed
the deficits on a recession, which he stated begun in
early 2002. The Nations Bureau of Economic Research refuted
this by saying the recession started in March 2001.
Lets put it this way, Usama Bin Laden may have not won
the fighting war in Afghanistan but he certainly appears
to have made a dent in America’s financial situation!
By the way where is Usama Bin Laden hiding these days?
Perhaps the old adage, ” seek and thou shalt find”
is appropriate as we are supposed to be suppressing terrorist
organizations not conducting a war against Iraq.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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