October 16, 2009: Deficit Hits $1.4 Trillion

As the US dollar continues to lose strength and there is no foreseeable end to President Obama's tax and spend mentality, the New York Times is reporting that the nation's deficit is soaring:

The Obama administration said Friday the deficit for the fiscal year just ended was $1.4 trillion, the largest relative to the size of the economy since 1945, underscoring the challenge to shrink the fiscal gap even as the White House and Congress consider further steps to stimulate a slow recovery.

The final tally for fiscal 2009, which ended Sept. 30, was nearly $1 trillion greater than the $459 billion deficit for fiscal 2008.

This year’s deficit translates to nearly 10 percent of the size of the economy, up from 3.2 percent of gross domestic product for last year’s deficit, according to a joint statement from the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget.Economists generally agree that annual deficits should not exceed 3 percent of the gross domestic product, and that is the level that President Obama had vowed to reach by fiscal 2013, at the end of his first term. At 10 percent, the 2009 deficit is the highest since the end of World War II, when it was 21.5 percent.