<b>US budget deficit in '08 surges to record $454 bn</b>
US budget deficit in '08 surges to record $454 bn
The federal budget deficit soared to $454.8 billion in 2008 as a housing collapse and efforts to combat the economic slowdown pushed the tide of government red ink to the highest level in history.
The Bush administration said on Tuesday the deficit for the budget year that ended Sept 30 was more than double the $161.5 billion recorded in 2007.
It surpassed the previous record of $413 billion set in 2004. Economists predicted a far worse number next year as the costs of the government's rescue of the financial system and the economic hard times hit the government's balance sheet.
Some analysts believe that next year's deficit could easily top $700 billion, giving the next president a formidable challenge.
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<b>60% of US Debt Due by 2011</b>
America's precarious fiscal condition now means funding her multi-trillion-dollar, long-term liabilities with multi-trillion-dollar, short-term borrowings.
That's a timeworn recipe for disaster.
The amount of marketable public debt that the US government will have to "roll over" during the next few years is massive.
"Of the marketable securities currently held by the public as of September 30, 2007," the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports, "$2,838 billion or 64% will mature within the next 4 years." (<i>that makes it within 3 years now</i>)
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"For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it." - Patrick Henry
The level of injustice and wrong you endure is directly determined by how much you quietly submit to. Even to the point of extinction.