More bad news. The U.S. posted an $82.69 billion deficit in April, which was more than double the $40 billion predicted. What makes this statistic particularly alarming is that, as we all know, April is tax month! April 15 marks the filing deadline for one of the main sources of government revenue. To give you an even better picture of how dismal this $82.69 billion number really is, let's look at last April. The nation was going through the crux of its economic crisis and we still managed to post a $20.91 deficit in April 2009. That's a significant amount, no doubt, but much more desirable than what we saw last month. Furthermore, Reuters reports that there was a surplus during April in 46 of the past 56 years.
According to Reuters, "The U.S. full-year deficit this year is projected at $1.5 trillion on top of a $1.4 trillion shortfall last year." They also report that White House budget director Peter Orszag said the U.S. must handle its deficit immediately to "avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece."
Um, yes. We agree. So can you tell me again why you signed a $2.5 trillion health care bill into law?