Deficit Running 21% Down!
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal deficit through July is running well below last year's pace, helped by strong growth in revenues, the Treasury Department reported Thursday.
Through the first 10 months of this budget year, the deficit totaled $239.7 billion (euro186.44 billion), an improvement of 20.8 percent from the same period a year ago, when it was $302.8 billion (euro235.51 billion).
The deficit in July totaled $33.2 billion (euro25.82 billion), down sharply from an imbalance of $53.4 billion (euro41.53 billion) in July 2005.
The narrowing of the deficit this year reflects a surge in government revenues from higher corporate and individual tax receipts.
The administration is now forecasting that the deficit for the 2006 budget year, which ends on Sept. 30, will total $296 billion (euro230.22 billion), a marked improvement from the $423 billion (euro329 billion) deficit the administration was forecasting back in February.
The Congressional Budget Office is even more optimistic, forecasting the deficit for this year will fall to $260 billion.
The debt should be calculated as a percentage of GDP. By that measure the current deficit isn't that bad and much better than a couple years ago.
The reason why we have a deficit is that Congress has spent too much. While I'm not happy with the Republicans, the Democrats would be spending that much worse.












