Thursday, August 13, 2009
Soaring deficit may defy forecasts - USATODAY.com
You can skip the article but DON'T miss the chart on the left side of the page...
USA Today's Richard Wolf reports:
"As the White House and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) prepare to release new deficit estimates this month, several economists say the news is likely to be as bad as or worse than forecasts.
'This is going to be a very depressing outlook,' predicts former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, top adviser to Republican John McCain in last year's presidential election. 'They have just a nightmare in terms of these health care bills, which do nothing but make things worse.'
A fiscal year 2009 deficit of $1.8 trillion was anticipated by the White House, $1.7 trillion by Congress. Reaching that level would produce a deficit four times last year's $459 billion deficit, just as Congress is considering health care overhaul plans that could cost $1 trillion over 10 years."
