The left is taking tax and spend  to new levels.  

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g-YziTsAJw1ofv-
BiXk2MoSXknwQD9EBVD6G0

Budget deficit sets record in February
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER (AP) – 19 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in 
history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last 
year's record for the full year.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the February deficit totaled 
$220.9 billion, 14 percent higher than the previous record set in 
February of last year.

The deficit through the first five months of this budget year totals 
$651.6 billion, 10.5 percent higher than a year ago.

The Obama administration is projecting that the deficit for the 2010 
budget year will hit an all-time high of $1.56 trillion, surpassing last 
year's $1.4 trillion total. The administration is forecasting that the 
deficit will remain above $1 trillion in 2011, giving the country thrree 
straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits.

The administration says the huge deficits are necessary to get the 
country out of the deepest recession since the 1930s. But Republicans 
have attacked the stimulus spending as wasteful and a failure at the 
primary objective of lowering unemployment.

The administration defends the economic stimulus bill that Congress 
passed in February 2009 with a pricetag at the time of $787 billion as 
the right medicine to get the economy back on its feet. President Barack 
Obama has said even more is needed to battle an unemployment rate that 
remained stuck in February at 9.7 percent.

The White House says that job creation will remain a top priority, 
hoping to convince voters that Obama did not spend too much time during 
his first year in office trying to get Congress to pass health care 
reform.

The government's monthly budget report showed the record $220.9 billion 
deficit for February reflected outlays of $328.4 billion and revenues of 
$107.5 billion. The February receipts marked the first time that 
revenues are up compared with the same month a year ago since April 
2008. Revenues had fallen for 21 straight months as the recession cut 
into both individual and corporate income tax payments.

Deficits normally shoot up in February because it is a month when the 
government makes large refund payments to individuals and corporations 
as part of the tax filing process. Those payments were boosted this year 
by various tax credits that were expanded or added as part of the 
government's stimulus efforts including the "Making Work Pay" tax credit 
and the first-time home buyers tax credit.

Through the first five months of the budget year, government revenues 
totaled $800.5 billion, down 7 percent from a year ago, while outlays 
totaled $1.45 trillion, up a slight 0.1 percent from a year ago.

The deficit of $651.6 billion through February is up by 10.5 percent 
from the $589.8 billion deficit run up during the first five months of 
the 2009 budget year. The government's budget year begins on Oct. 1.

The budget that Obama sent to Congress in February projects that the 
deficits over the next decade will total $8.53 trillion. But the 
Congressional Budget Office last week put the 10-year total even higher 
at $9.8 trillion. Part of the reason for the $1.2 trillion difference is 
that the CBO is projecting slower economic growth and thus less tax 
revenues than the administration over the next decade.

The administration has maintained that the country must run large budget 
deficits until the economy has begun to grow at a sustainable pace that 
is bringing the unemployment rate down. Only then, the administration 
says, should the government focus on getting control of the deficits.

Obama has created by executive order an 18-member fiscal reform 
commission that has been charged with coming up with a plan to shrink 
the deficit to 3 percent of the economy within five years. The plan is 
scheduled to be unveiled in December, after the midterm congressional 
elections.

With the economy so weak, the interest rates that the government has to 
finance the flood of red ink have remained low. However, economists are 
worried that the favorable outlook on interest rates could change 
quickly if investors, including foreign investors, start to worry about 
the government's commitment to restraining future deficits. China is the 
largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities.

Through the first five months of this budget year, net interest payments 
totaled $86.5 billion, up 15.3 percent from a year ago.

In its report last week, the CBO predicted that the government debt held 
by investors would climb from $7.5 trillion at the end of last year to 
$20.3 trillion in 2020. CBO forecast that interest payments would more 
than quadruple from a projected $209 billion this year to $916 billion 
annually by the end of the decade.

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