The official deficit for fiscal year 2014 (which ended September 30) came in at $483 billion dollars. That is a steep drop from the $1.2 trillion from fiscal 2009. The Obama Administration, if not downright overjoyed, is at least pleased with the drop in the deficit, attributing it to its wise policies. Of course, the federal government took in over $3 trillion in revenue, by far a record amount – and yet still managed to spend $483 billion more than it took in. So by extracting $3 trillion from the private sector and giving it to the public sector (and we are not including $2 trillion in state taxes or the $1.1 trillion in local taxes) we have managed to “drop” the deficit to $483 billion.
Today, it is almost purely the executive branch that is spending as it wants. Oh, one more thing...our national debt has just exceeded the $18 trillion mark. When Barack Obama took the oath of office in 2009, the debt was $10.625 trillion. He may not have brought prosperity, but he has brought dependency, and that not only is the quickest way to run up the deficit, it is a fundamental cause of many of America’s problems.