REPORTCARD2000.COM

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By: Gregory R. Brice, CPA

For the complete website contents, go to the Table of Contents.

In summary:

REPORTCARD2000.COM …

1. provides an analytical review on the United States economy and budgets in the 1990s and early 2000s,

2. evaluates the assumptions in the often and recently cited CBO January 2001 $5.6 trillion budget surplus,

3. provides a brief look at where we are today, and

4. analyzes a montage of political quotes associated with the previously stated items.

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Special note: What if politicians were directors or CEOs of public corporations?

1. If the U.S. economy was a publicly held corporation and politicians were held to the same standards as Directors or CEOs (and Congress had not exempted themselves from their own legislation), the Securities Act of 1933 Section 27A would apply. Section C 1 states a person’s statement will not be misleading when commenting on a forward-looking statement if “the forward-looking statement is identified as a forward-looking statement, and is accompanied by meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statement.” Section 24 contains the penalty.

a. The CBO made the necessary meaningful cautionary statements in the 2001 report. Along with the chapter on uncertainties, the first sentence includes the following:

“…assuming that the economy follows the path described in this report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects…”

The words “assuming that the economy follows the path described” notifies the user of the report that the balance of the report, including the considerable qualifiers and uncertainties included in the report, are the basis for the $5.6 trillion budget surplus projection that follows in the next sentence.

b. The Securities Act of 1933 Section 24 contains the penalty. The section “makes any untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, shall upon conviction be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”

Sec. 24 SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

2 See also 18 U.S.C. 3623. [Printed in appendix to this volume.]

PENALTIES

SEC. 24. [77] Any person who willfully violates any of the

provisions of this title, or the rules and regulations promulgated by

the Commission under authority thereof, or any person who willfully,

in a registration statement filed under this title, makes any

untrue statement of a material fact or omits to state any material

fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements

therein not misleading, shall upon conviction be fined not

more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

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