$490 billion projected federal budget deficit for 2009. This does not include the full estimates of further war costs and the quarterly request for additional $100 billion that’s been happening since 2003.  These estimates only hold if the economy does as well as the Bush administration is thinking, better than almost everyone’s current estimates,  and inflation stays low, below almost everyone’s current estimates. So in other words, expect the actual projected 2009 federal budget deficit to be far higher than HALF A TRILLION dollars.

On the horizon are potentially huge bank bailouts/failures that will run billions of dollars and the potential for universal healthcare in the next 4-8 years or so, which I’m in full support of. Our budget is going to be in dire straits for the foreseeable future.

This ridiculous deficit/debt will only result in higher taxes, higher inflation, and lower services for the future. Something has to give. One way or another, the American people are truly going to have to sacrifice to meet their debts. We haven’t been sacrificing for the past 7.5 years as we ran up our credit. All for ill-needed tax cuts & wars.

To put this into perspective, Clinton’s squandered gift to Bush…