On Friday, the government said that the federal budget deficit rose to $956.8 billion for the first half of fiscal 2009. The Treasury Department stated that it grew by $192.3 billion during the month of March, according to the report. By comparison, last March, the government added $48.2 billion to the deficit.
The government has been spending at a record pace in order to try to pull the economy out of the deep recession and trigger more lending. It is expected that the government will spend $3.94 trillion for the full fiscal year, ending September 30.
Though the spending has increased dramatically, …read more

Halfway through the fiscal year, the federal deficit is at a record high of $311.4 billion, up 20.5% from this time last year. The report from the Treasury showed that revenue for the fiscal year totaled $1.146 trillion, up just 2.2% from last year. In contrast, government spending was up by a much faster 5.7%, rising to $1.457 trillion – and that doesn’t take into account those planned rebate checks!