Federal Budget Deficits Will Reach Levels Never Seen Before in the U.S.

Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute.

Recent budget deficits have reached unprecedented levels, but the future will be much worse. Unlessentitlements are reformed, spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will drive deficits to unmanageable levels.

PERCENTAGE OF GDP

Source: Congressional Budget Office (Alternative Fiscal Scenario).

In Depth

• Policy Papers for Researchers

  • COMMENTARY ON FEBRUARY 16, 2010Obama Misdiagnoses Source of Deficits
  • TESTIMONY ON APRIL 14, 2011Perspectives on Deficit Reduction

• Technical Notes

  The charts in this book are based primarily on data available as of March 2011 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The charts using OMB data display the historical growth of the federal government to 2010 while the charts using CBO data display both historical and projected growth from as early as 1940 to 2084. Projections based on OMB data are taken from the White House Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The charts provide data on an annual basis except… Read More

• Authors

  Emily GoffResearch Assistant
  Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy StudiesKathryn NixPolicy Analyst
  Center for Health Policy StudiesJohn FlemingSenior Data Graphics Editor