Associated Press
The U.S. budget deficit totaled $2.77 trillion for 2021, the second highest on record but an improvement from the all-time high of $3.13 trillion reached in 2020. The deficits in both years reflect trillions of dollars in government spending to counteract the devastating effects of a global pandemic.
The Joe Biden administration said Friday that the 2021 deficit, for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was $360 billion lower than 2020 as a recovering economy boosted revenues, helping to offset government spending from pandemic relief efforts.
Before the pandemic deficits of the past two years, the biggest deficit the federal government recorded was a shortfall of $1.4 trillion in 2009 during the Obama administration as the government spent heavily to lift the country out of a severe recession following the 2008 financial crisis.
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Republished courtesy of The Associated Press.
One comment
PeterH
October 22, 2021 at 11:48 am
Cleaning up Republican economic messes take time and money. After Obama cleaned up Bush’s disaster and complete economic collapse …… Obama had the longest period of economic expansion in American history. Trump brought that expansion to a close with his foolish trade tariffs! Instead of paying down the national debt with the great economy he inherited ……Trump decided to give the failed Laffer Curve Voodoo economic policies another spin. Trump’s tax breaks made it impossible for the treasury to pay its bills and as expected the deficit went through the roof. Now Biden is stuck cleaning up another Republican mess.
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