You can check on the current size and composition of our national debt by taking a peek here at Constitutionalley’s exclusive “Whoop-de-doo-doo Budget Deal” deficit & debt forecaster. I mention this only because of the recent rumor that the deficit will again exceed $1 trillion this fiscal year, $1.08 trillion if you’re picky.
But wait, isn’t this precisely the same number that was forecast by the original FY2012 budget? Why, yes it is! — if you accept the original budget’s revenue number, that is. However, if spending holds at “budget” but revenue comes in at 90% of forecast, the deficit will be something in the order of $1.34 trillion.
This would appear to be closer to “reality” if you take a look at the current debt burn rate which stands at $4.38 billion/day for this fiscal year. That’s just about a billion a day greater than last fiscal year when the deficit came in at $1.3 trillion and the debt increased $1.23 trillion. At the current rate of debt accumulation, we’ll be a cool $1.6 trillion deeper in the hole come September 30th next.
Tennessee Ernie Ford was sadly prophetic when he lamented, “Saint Peter dontcha call me ’cause I can’t go, I owe my soul to the ‘company’ store.”
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Ciao,
Dennis