This is something you should start getting used to — the Obama administration revising deficit projections upward. Today, the White House said that the federal government’s 2009 deficit would reach $1.84 trillion, or $89 billion higher than initially expected.
There are a few ways to put the new numbers in perspective. The $1.84 trillion now brings the administration’s deficit projection roughly in line with the CBO estimate that the White House previously claimed had too grim a view of the economy. Also, the $89 billion upward revision represents a sum more than five times the value of the budget cuts President Obama promoted last Thursday as part of his new era of fiscal responsibility. Last week, he said of the $17 billion in cuts that, “even by Washington standards, that should be considered real money.”
