Despite Strong Economy, Federal Deficit Soars

The government is acting like a spendthrift family, piling up credit card bills even though times are good.

Elise Amendola / AP

On a muggy morning this week, a group of bankers and investment managers met at The Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C. They got an update from the Treasury Department about government cash flows and, according to minutes of the meeting, the picture wasn’t pretty.

Corporate tax receipts are down for the year, while government spending is up. Even with a fast-growing economy, the Treasury Department expects to borrow more than $750 billion to pay its bills during the last six months of this year.

“The federal budget deficit is ballooning, skyrocketing, soaring, whichever way you want to describe it,” said longtime fiscal watchdog Stan Collender, who blogs about federal finances as “The Budget Guy.”