Forget the budget surpluses of the final Clinton years, or the Bush administration promise it would some day balance the budget again. Last month, the government reported a deficit of $237.2 billion.
Some perspective: It was the biggest one-month deficit ever. It was more than four times higher than last October's $56.8 billion.
The key culprint was the $115 billion Washington spent to invest in the nation's biggest banks, the first installment of the $700 billion financial rescue program passed in early October. But the economic slowdown also hurt, since revenues generally drop when the economy staggers and spending picks up.
The record deficit suggests that analysts' predictions of a $1 trillion fiscal 2009 deficit--twice as high as the previous record--is likely.
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