Amos:

You are the most knowledgeable person about the deficit that I know. I think you should explain it to us and compare it to Obama's deficit.

US Budget may triple 2008 deficit record

Agence France-Presse

March 21, 2009

THE US Budget deficit could hit $US1.845 trillion ($A2.7 trillion) this year under the Budget proposed by President Barack Obama, quadrupling the 2008 record shortfall, a new forecast showed.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency of Congress, said its latest Budget deficit estimate for fiscal 2009, which ends on September 30, would amount to 13.1 per cent of the country's entire economic output.

Since its early January estimate of a $US1.2 trillion ($A1.75 trillion) gap, the CBO said, the enactment of stimulus legislation such as the $US787 billion ($A1.15 trillion) stimulus plan and other measures to revive the economy, and other factors had added more than $US400 billion ($A580 trillion) to deficit projections for 2009 and 2010.

The new projections were based on a sweeping $US3.55 trillion ($A5.2 trillion) multiyear budget proposed by President Barack Obama's administration to Congress in February.