Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveZ
...The government's definition of "balanced budget" is not needing any additional revenue by virtue of taxes or borrowing to pay the obligations. Unfortunately, that does not mean paying down on the debt principal or paying the interest in many cases.
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I checked the link and don't deny that some in the government might define "balanced budget" the way you describe. But others define it differently. About.com says...Definition: A balanced budget occurs when the total sum of money a government collects in a year is equal to the amount it spends on goods, services, and debt interest. I can only conclude that Greenspan defined balanced budget the same way About.com does.
What's really interesting is that neither includes the repayment of debt as an expense to be counted when determining whether a budget is balanced. Unlike any normal household which has a mortgage or car payment to make, I guess the politicos feel that once borrowed, they needn't worry about repaying the debt any more.