Federal Deficit Triples Last Year's Record, Hits All-Time High

The federal budget deficit for the budget year ended September 30th surged to an all-time high of 1.42 trillion dollars, more than tripling last year's deficit. Over the next decade the deficit is now expected to exceed 9 trillion.

As a percentage of the overall economic activity, this year's deficit is the highest since World War II when the country was pulling out of the Great Depression, coming in at about 10%. Contributing to the deficit was a 16.6% decline in revenues, combined with an 18.2% surge in government spending including the economic stimulus package and the 700 billion dollar TARP program which helped firms such Citibank (C), Regions Financial (RF), and Bank of America (BAC).

When the numbers were released, officials made a point to say the Obama administration has pledged to reduce the deficit once the economy starts to recover and unemployment turns around. That could take some time, as large companies including Boeing (BA) are rumored to be considering fresh job cuts.

The preceeding is a transcript of the MarketNewsVideo.com video published at: http://www.marketnewsvideo.com/?id=200910Defecit101609&mv=1.

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