…$80 billion deficit. And that’s really important, since the rightwingers are intent on using every deficit dollar to support their goal of decimating the earned benefits programs established in the…

…Fund deficit was rather large so current tax obligations do not capture the cost of government as in all those deferred tax bills thanks to the Bush tax “cuts”. But…

…surplus increased near 2 pps to 22.6%. * Italy’s intra-Euro area trade deficit hovered at just under -1% of GDP. * Spain’s trade deficit improved somewhat, falling roughly 50 basis…

…adjusts the government deficit (or surplus) for non-structural items to leave just the structural deficit (net spending on pension payments, unemployment insurance, normal capital expenditures, etc.). Without growth to increase…

…(we would have a capital account deficit). Strange but true, the US current account deficit is simiilar to our trade deficit. Even though on paper we are huge debtors (biggest…

…economic growth by reducing the deficit over the longer term. The fiscal policymaking in this town seems totally schizophrenic right now. What a juxtaposition to have President Obama’s deficit-reduction commission…

…Dems lose Congressional seats in the fall elections, the GOP would be even more likely to push through more deficit-increasing tax cuts, while still arguing against deficits to justify privatization…

…automatically awards disability benefits to some veterans because of concerns about Agent Orange seems contrary to efforts to control federal spending, the Republican co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s deficit commission…

…spending will be about $3.5 trillion (24% of GDP). That means a projected deficit for 2010 of $1.3 trillion, second only to 2009’s deficit as a percentage of GDP (9.1%…

…I feel free to display my ignorance after the jump. The conventional wisdom seems to be that we have to do something about the long term deficit, but that the…