The Incredible Shrinking Deficit

Republicans pulled off a pretty neat trick, running up huge deficits and then making it their party’s big issue. Not to be outdone, the Democrats have managed to make $1.3 trillion look small.

The deficit actually shrank in the last fiscal year, according to the Treasury, and revenues were up. Here’s the hitch: We were still $1.294 trillion in the hole, and it’s easy to shrink a deficit when the previous year’s shortfall included part of TARP and the stimulus on top of lousy tax receipts and the odd trillion for the military.

Consequently, both Democrats and Republicans are already campaigning on the news that the astronomical deficit is smaller. — PZS

AFP via Google:

For the 2010 fiscal year that ended on September 30, the government had a budget shortfall of 1.294 trillion dollars, down 122 billion dollars from the previous year’s record-setting high.

Revenue rose and spending fell amid recovery from recession and as President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration wound down some of the emergency measures taken to restore growth.

Read more