DEFICIT FOR 2016 ROSE TO $588 BILLION
“The federal deficit for fiscal 2016 jumped to $588 billion, $149 billion bigger than last year’s, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Friday.”
“As a share of economic output, the deficit rose to 3.2 percent, up from 2.5 percent in fiscal 2015. That would be the first such increase in the deficit as a share of the economy since 2009, when the U.S. was still reeling from the financial crisis.
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The budget office, Congress’ nonpartisan, in-house agency for estimating the costs of legislation and projecting economic trends, expects the deficit to grow again in fiscal 2017, to $594 billion.
The deficit is projected to shrink in 2018, because of another timing shift. From there on out, however, deficits are on track to widen indefinitely, eclipsing $1 trillion in 2024, or 4 percent of GDP. As a result, the budget office projects that the federal debt, which represents the borrowing the government has done to pay for the accrued deficits, is estimated to rise from around 75 percent of GDP now to 86 percent in 10 years, and continue rising.
Greater spending drove the increase in the deficit, according to the budget office. Total expenditures rose $168 billion, or 5 percent, to $3.86 trillion. Revenues only grew $19 billion, less than 1 percent.”