CBO: Deficit tops $1 trillion again

It’s official: The federal budget deficit blew past the $1 trillion mark for the fourth year in a row.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Friday that the nation recorded a budget deficit of about $1.1 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That figure is about $200 billion lower than last year’s budget deficit of $1.3 trillion.

The 2012 deficit comes out to about 7 percent of the nation’s GDP. That percentage is lower than the past three fiscal years, but still higher than any year since 1947, according to the CBO.

Friday’s revelation isn’t a surprise. The CBO – Congress’s nonpartisan budget scorekeeper — has consistently projected since earlier this year that the federal deficit would top the trillion-dollar mark for the fourth consecutive year. (Continues)