CBO pegs 2012 deficit at $1.1 trillion
Down slightly from 2011
WASHINGTON – A new estimate puts the deficit for the just-completed 2012 budget year at $1.1 trillion, the fourth straight year of trillion dollar deficits on President Barack Obama’s watch.
The result was a slight, $207 billion improvement from the 2011 deficit of $1.3 trillion.
“President Obama once promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, but … he’s broken that promise and has presided over his fourth straight trillion-dollar budget deficit,” said GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “The president’s reckless spending habits have burdened the American people with another $5.4 trillion in debt while failing to bring a real recovery for the 23 million Americans struggling for work or the 15 percent of Americans living in poverty.”
The 2012 deficit was 7 percent of the size of the economy, an unsustainably high level. The figure is lower than the first three years of Obama’s presidency but higher than any other year since 1947.
The administration will release the official deficit numbers around mid-October, but they should line up closely with the CBO estimate, which showed that the government borrowed 31 cents for every dollar it spent.