Budget deficit tops $1 trillion for first time - AP

A bailout that didn't work and endless and unwinnable wars.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090713/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy_deficit;_ylt=AvrOG6SWYHUlcsT3G5gthl9I2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTJvZjBsMXJwBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNzEzL3VzX2Vjb25vbXlfZGVmaWNpdARwb3MDMQRzZWMDeW5fcGFnaW5hdGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNidWRnZXRkZWZpY2k-

Nine months into the fiscal year, the federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time ever.

The imbalance is intensifying fears about higher interest rates and inflation, and already pressuring the value of the dollar.

The Treasury Department says the deficit in June totaled $94.3 billion, pushing the total since the budget year started in October to nearly $1.1 trillion.

The deficit has been propelled by the huge sum the government has spent to combat the recession and financial crisis, combined with a sharp decline in tax revenues. Paying for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is also a major factor.

The country's soaring deficits are making some foreign buyers of U.S. debt nervous, and this could make them reluctant lenders down the road.

I think it worked in the manner that it prevented total catastrophe. But we'll never know what would've happened otherwise.

previous deficits. From everything I've heard this is all part of the plan. You may not like the plan, but I seem to remember it being boiled down to a choice... either deflation and a Great Depression style depression... or hyper inflation and a Weimar Republic style hot boxing of the economy and hope for the best.

Deflationary pressures apparently scare the piss out of anyone who is holding debt (which is something like 95% of the population)... as wages and earning potential decrease, along with prices... but not the debt. Accordingly, one facet of the stimulus bill, as I understand it, was to counter deflationary pressures by printing more money, which creates an inflationary pressure... and thereby sink the value of the US dollar in an effort to keep deflation at bay. Of course, unless those handling the economy, and those who are influencing the investment class' perceptions, do so just right... and get damned lucky... the odds of the inflationary pressures of all the debt and money printing for stimulus not only overriding the deflationary pressures... but just plain going crazy (Weimar Republic style) afterward... well, I'm guessing that the choice that I've heard (see above) reflects the general economist consensus of the odds of anyone handling the economy quite so perfectly.

Cross your fingers folks...

(Of course... that's just how I understood these things as presented to me... I could be wrong... and it's all a matter of mass psychology of who will pay what for what anyway... the resources haven't changed, just how we as a society/species are choosing to agree to distribute them.)

of wasting money on health care and education.

Next time they do an article on the deficit, they perhaps could include Republican culpability.

I won't be holding my breath though.