Federal Government Deficit On Track As Second-Highest Ever

AP
9/14/10

WASHINGTON - The federal government is on track to record the second-highest deficit of all time with one month left in the budget year.

The deficit totaled $1.26 trillion through August, the Treasury Department said yesterday. That puts it on pace to total $1.3 trillion when the budget year ends Sept. 30, slightly below last year’s record $1.4 trillion deficit.

Soaring deficits have become a major issue with voters heading into the midterm elections. Republicans say the deficits illustrate the growth of spending under Democrats and show their poor handling of the economy.

The Obama administration contends the record deficits were necessary to combat the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression.

About one-third of the higher deficits are a result of a drop in government tax revenues. The other two-thirds of the deficit increases reflect higher government spending to stabilize the financial system and boost the economy.

Deficits of $1 trillion in a single year had never happened until two years ago. The $1.4 trillion deficit in 2009 was more than three times the size of the previous record-holder, a $454.8 billion deficit recorded in 2008.

Last year’s deficit was equal to 9.9 percent of the total economy - the highest percentage in 65 years. The deficit equaled 21.5 percent of the economy in 1945, at the height of the U.S. involvement in World War II.

Comment:

The worst is yet to come.