Deficits Are Falling
Deficits are falling. A lot.
Remember 2009, the depths of the economic crisis? That year, the country spent way more than it brought in and ran an eye-popping shortfall that topped 10% of the size of the economy.
This year the deficit is expected to be half that — around 5.3% of GDP, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.
And by 2015, it’s projected to drop to 2.4%.
What’s more, the national debt that has accumulated from annual deficits is also projected to fall to an estimated 73.1% of GDP in 2018 from an estimated 76.3% today.
There are several reasons for the downward trend. The economy is on the mend. Incoming federal revenue has risen from 60-year lows and will soon top its historical average for much of the next decade. Spending, meanwhile, has come down from 60-year highs.