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China raking it in China's trade surplus hit a monthly high in May. The surplus is on pace to surpass last year's record. May exports jumped 25.1% from a year earlier to $73.11 billion, picking up from a 23.9% increase in April, according to customs figures issued yesterday. Imports rose a more modest 21.7%. The trade surplus, the excess of exports over imports, surged to $13 billion for the month, 44% higher than in May of last year. Low-tech, labor-intensive goods like footwear and toys haven’t been great performers this year, but China’s booming electronics sector and its growing prowess...

The federal government ran a monthly budget surplus of $118.85 billion in April, as tax receipts came in stronger than the same period last year. Buoyed by income during the spring tax season, government ledgers in April swung into the black following March's deficit of $85.47 billion. Receipts in April were $315.09 billion, up 13% from $277.61 billion a year earlier, and the second highest on record, just below the $332 billion in April 2001. The April total budget surplus was the fourth highest monthly surplus on record... The Treasury estimates the U.S. government ran a budget deficit for the...

Surplus? What surplus? That was the message from legislative leadership this week as the hands came out for a piece of the unexpected tax revenues. The state so far has collected billions in revenues above this time last year. And yet, everyone seems to be talking about fiscal restraint. "The increased revenue more allows us to dodge a bullet than really move forward," said Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee. The surplus revenue quickly disappears when one starts to add up the state's pending obligations and shortfalls, Laird said. These include $330 million for midyear...

For the month of April 2006 the Federal Government took in $315 billion and had a surplus of $118 billion. That $315 billion sets a record for monthly receipts. And the previous record surplus (years 1981 - 2006) was $189 billion under President Bush in April of 2001. April 2006: http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0406.txt Monthly Receipts, Outlays, and Deficit or Surplus, Fiscal Years 1981 - 2006 http://fms.treas.gov/mts/mts.pdf

With the May revision of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget for 2006-2007 due out in just days, he is facing a new issue: What to do with the surplus of tax revenues currently flowing into the state treasury? With history as his guide, he must focus some of that revenue on essential one-time projects that do not plunge California into ongoing commitments that could jeopardize California's current fiscal stability. The governor could hit another home run for Californians by allocating a portion of the state revenue increase to levee repair -- something we have all become too aware is a...

One year ago, the chorus of the consensus told America that the dollar’s exchange rate was due to fall in 2005. Under relentless assault from cheap Chinese imports and facing a record trade deficit, the dollar had nowhere to go but down. The influential Economist magazine went so far as to say, “[t]he deficit is unsustainable: sooner or later it will need to shrink, and that will involve a cheaper dollar.” Politicians and pundits predicted economic trauma at the hands of outsourcing. Time has proven them wrong. What the U.S. needed then and needs now is to stick to the...

County median home price reaches $604,000 San Luis Obispo County’s median home price inched past the $600,000 mark last month, reaching $604,170, according to data released by the California Association of Realtors. This was a 2 percent gain from January and a 21.7 percent gain from February 2005, when the median price was $496,430. February’s median was still lower than the record set in November 2005 of $605,160. The county saw an 8.1 percent increase in the number of sales of single-family detached homes compared with February of last year. During the same period, the median price of an existing...

Finally, light at the end of the tunnel for the non-reloading shooter of 7.62 NATO chambered Mil-Surp rifles< Federal 308 Winchester Low Recoil Power Shock round on leftSouth African 7.62 NATO Mil-Surp on right The following paragraph is a quote from a previous article published at Surplusrifle: “Here at Surplusrifle.com, we recommend in the strongest possible terms that you do not fire .308 Winchester ammunition in any Mil-Surp rifle chambered for the 7.62 NATO round.”    It recently came to the attention of Surplusrifle.com that there may be ONE exception to the above statement.  Federal Cartridge Corporation has introduced a “low...

Flush With Cash, States Make Pricey Plans Tax cuts, new cash to health care programs, blueprints for new roads and schools — states have jumped into 2006 with ambitious plans to spend the money pouring into their coffers, a windfall that's just in time for governors and legislators as they start re-election campaigns. The spending spree is the clearest proof yet that the gloomy days of cuts and budget-tightening that dominated the first half of the decade are over, even as some urge caution and others say states have yet to fully recover from the downturn. Lawmakers are arguing for...

Tax cuts, new cash to health care programs, blueprints for new roads and schools — states have jumped into 2006 with ambitious plans to spend the money pouring into their coffers, a windfall that's just in time for governors and legislators as they start re-election campaigns. The spending spree is the clearest proof yet that the gloomy days of cuts and budget-tightening that dominated the first half of the decade are over, even as some urge caution and others say states have yet to fully recover from the downturn. Lawmakers are arguing for tax cuts in Alabama, Arizona, Hawaii and...

Chinese tiger runs towards the trap The Daily Telegraph 02/14/06 author: Ambrose Evans-Pritchard China's trade surplus surged 46.7pc in January year-on-year as the emerging giant continued to shoot up the technology ladder, becoming a net exporter of cars for the first time. Copying the export models of Japan and South Korea, China is now building auto production plant at breakneck speed, with plans to double its current capacity of 8.7m vehicles a year. Analysts warn that China's industrial strategy is leading to rampant over-investment, unmatched by growth of internal demand. The mix is posing an increasing threat to the global...

Google the term "budget deficit" and there are 30,000 entries. There have barrages of articles on this worrisome topic warning us of all of the dangers it poses. Yet, Friday Reuters slipped a one sentence reference to a January federal budget surplus into a daily stockmarket report and that has been the only mention of this very good economic news. " The U.S. budget registered a surprisingly big surplus of $20.99 billion in January as strong receipts outweighed spending, a Treasury Department report showed." Actually, I heard one mention of a surplus last month, so that makes two months in...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. federal surplus widened to $21 billion in January from $8.6 billion a year ago, the Treasury Department said Friday. The government typically runs a surplus in January when corporations and individuals make quarterly tax payments. The January surplus was $3 billion less than the $24 billion surplus expected by the Congressional Budget Office in its monthly budget outlook. The difference came mostly on the outlay side Receipts rose 13.7% year-over-year to $230 billion. It's a record for receipts in the month of January. Outlays rose 7.9% year-over-year to $209 billion, also a record for the...

We all know and understand that budget management and leadership requires flexibility, common sense and cooperation. Representing common principles and conviction, Republicans and Democrats were elected to positions of trust and have sworn to serve their constituents. Somehow, many in Sacramento have forgotten their pledges, or ignored them altogether. I am speaking about our state budget fiasco, irresponsibility and double talk we have sadly grown accustomed to. We all remember the golden “surplus years” in California. California Republican Governors have historically; overcome huge and impossible budget deficits. They proceeded to prepare for the future and to protect a golden surplus...

The Postal Service is in a position not many Americans can claim: debt free. But even a projected surplus won't stop next month's postal rate increase, which the service says is needed to a congressionally mandated expense. Once $11 billion in the red, the post office paid off the remaining $1.8 billion of its debt in 2005, postal Chief Financial Officer Richard Strasser said Tuesday. It's the first time the Postal Service has been without debt since it was organized from the old post office in the 1970s. Overall, the Postal Service finished fiscal 2005 with a $1.4 billion surplus...

Top Pennsylvania lawmakers have a special account stuffed with $135 million only they can use -- and they're using it to pay themselves more money. While other needs went begging this summer during discussions on the $24 billion state budget, the little known account controlled solely by legislative leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties remained flush. It is being used to fund the back-door pay increase -- called "unvouchered expenses" -- accepted by more than half of the state's 253 lawmakers. "They're sitting on that and people have to go in and beg for $15 or $20 million for...

Virginia closed out its books on 2005 with a surplus of more than 540-million dollars. Governor Mark Warner is putting most of it into the Rainy Day Fund. 54-million will go into the Water Quality Improvement Fund and 26-million into the Transportation Trust Fund. Warner suggests the rest be used to help Virginia communities affected by military base closings. Officials say the surplus reflects the state's strong economy, but warn an economic down- time is sure to follow. "Everybody has got to keep in mind that banking on this kind of unusual growth is going to get us into the...

Just as Democrats in Congress were congratulating themselves on turning back Social Security reform, a new proposal has dramatically changed the debate. The DeMint-Ryan plan, if passed into law, would mark a giant first step toward personal ownership of Social Security benefits. Moreover, it addresses the Democrats' main objections to personal accounts. We will now see, in other words, whether congressional Democrats have been debating the issue in good faith, or whether they have ulterior motives. Announced last week by Sen. Jim DeMint, along with several influential House Republicans, the plan is based on the radical idea that our Social...

HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI VS. HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI  In March, Pelosi Was Against "Robbing" Social Security Trust Fund:Pelosi: "We Must Stop Robbing Social Security Trust Fund Of Its Money To Pay For Other Things ..." (Fox News, "Fox News Sunday," 3/6/05) Today, Pelosi Finds "Nothing Wrong" With It:Pelosi: "There's Nothing Wrong With Social Security Lending Money With The Prospect Of Returning It." (Keith Koffler, "Pelosi Says Current System Of Borrowing Surplus Is Sound," CongressDaily PM, 6/24/05)

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