U.S budget deficit will surge 2008.Jul.29. Posted in Focus
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The government’s budget deficit will surge past a half-trillion dollars next year, according to gloomy new estimates, a record flood of red ink that promises to force the winner of the presidential race to dramatically alter his economic agenda.
The deficit will hit $482 billion in the 2009 budget year that will be inherited by Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain, the White House estimated Monday. That figure is sure to rise after adding the tens of billions of dollars in additional Iraq war funding it doesn’t include, and the total could be higher yet if the economy fails to recover as the administration predicts.
The result: the biggest deficit ever in terms of dollars, though several were higher in the 1980s and early 1990s as a percentage of the overall economy.
Neither campaign is backing off campaign promises — McCain to cut taxes and Obama to expand health and education programs — in light of the bleaker new figures. But Democrats controlling Congress suggest that will have to change once President Bush’s successor takes office.
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