Bloomberg details (bold mine):
The U.S. budget deficit reached a record for the first 10 months of the fiscal year and broke a monthly high for July as the recession curbed revenue and the government ramped up spending to rejuvenate the economy.The shortfall so far for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30 totaled $1.27 trillion (actually its $1.43 trillion, but what's $160 billion) compared with a $389 billion year-to-date gap in 2008 (actually $370.1 billion), the Treasury said today in Washington. The excess of spending over revenue for July climbed to $180.7 billion compared with a $102.8 billion gap in July 2008 as the government spent more than in any month in U.S. history.
Taking that ten-month (year to date) period and roll it back to 1981 (as far back as the data I could find goes) and we get the following.
Back to Bloomberg:
Tax receipts are sliding and spending is surging even as some economists say the recession may have ended. The government is trying to spark business and consumer spending through a $787 billion stimulus plan spanning tax cuts, infrastructure projects and a goal to create or save 3.5 million jobs. President Barack Obama also is pushing a health-care overhaul that may cost $1 trillion over a decade.
Looking at the graphs, to me, it seems it would be fair to say that the fiscal stimulus has been ongoing ever since the March-2000 Nasdaq peak...
ReplyDeleteAt this point, all fiscal and monetary stimulus bullets have been spent.
If the green-shoot crowd does not turn out to be correct, if the economy is in fact headed into another leg down (CRE), we will all be in very deep doodoo.