For Perspective

Think of how big the US economy is; the sum total of all the goods and services produced in an entire year. That’s how deep our debt is.

President Obama‘s budget, released Monday, was conceived as a blueprint for future spending, but it also paints the bleakest picture yet of the current fiscal year, which is on track for a record federal deficit and will see the government’s overall debt surpass the size of the total U.S. economy.

Mr. Obama‘s budget projects that 2011 will see the biggest one-year debt jump in history, or nearly $2 trillion, to reach $15.476 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. That would be 102.6 percent of GDP — the first time since World War II that dubious figure has been reached.

And the budget projects the government will run a deficit of $1.645 trillion this year, topping 2009’s previous record by more than $230 billion. By contrast, 2007’s deficit was just $160 billion altogether.

We do not need more tax increases. That has not solved the debt issue. Spending must be cut, substantially. That is one thing that has simply not been tried. The Tea Party exists because of this; the huge debt we are going to pass on to our great-grandchildren if we don’t do something about it now.

Filed under: Economics • Government

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