US budget deficit drops to USD 162.8 billion

One of the quantities that was predicted to exponentially grow out of control - much like the global mean temperature, population, and other things - was the U.S. budget deficit.



However, the graph from 1993 shows something different. The fiscal 2007 deficit was smaller than the deficit of any of the years in this list: 1983-1986, 1990-1995, 2003-2006 even if you don't discount anything.




After USD 248.2 billion deficit in 2006, the USD 162.8 billion deficit in 2007 is just 1.2 percent of the GDP. The U.S. could safely join the European Union if it wanted: the Maastricht criteria require the budget deficit to be below 3 percent of GDP.