Democrats SHRANK Deficit During Fiscal Year 2010

According to this article:

Democrats Shrank Deficit During Fiscal Year 2010

Amid the conservative drumbeat about Democratic fiscal irresponsibility comes a bit of news that's ever so slightly inconvenient for the GOP narrative. It turns out that Democrats actually shrank spending during the 2010 fiscal year:

Be warned: this is from a website and writer that takes sides.

The US deficit shrank nine percent last fiscal year but still topped one trillion dollars, the government said Friday in a report seized on by Democrats' rivals weeks ahead of mid-term elections. For the 2010 fiscal year that ended on September 30, the government had a budget shortfall of 1.294 trillion dollars, down 122 billion dollars from the previous year's record-setting high.

These numbers are still ridiculous ("DOWN 122 billion dollars"???) but at least they are going in the right direction. Pity this had to happen during an election year where it will essentially go unnoticed. We are being bombarded by rhetoric from all sides all day long and well into the night.

reply to post by Alora


I've seen this posted time and time again at various news sources and discussion threads. The Democrats didn't do anything of the sort. No one did. The CBO, which I assume are the numbers this source used(like all the others) projects deficit increases in 2011 that will put it back on par with 2009.

What we're seeing here isn't a decrease in government spending. We're seeing shifts in costs, accounting, workforce, and contract expiry. This is why in 2011 the spending goes back up.

I love these accounting tricks, but that's all they are, tricks.

Washington does seem to have its fair share of accounting tricks. No argument from me there