$11,000,000,000,000

NDOL summarizes the new federal deficit numbers:

DLC | New Dem Daily | August 27, 2003
New Deficit Numbers: Really Bad, and Getting Much Worse

The Congressional Budget Office released new budget estimates yesterday, and the news is not good. Adjusting its "baseline" to actual spending and revenue trends, CBO said the federal budget deficit would grow to a new world-record $480 billion next year. Worse yet, the number-crunchers estimated that cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years would reach $5.8 trillion. Recall that CBO was estimating 10-year budget surpluses of more than five-and-a-half trillion dollars when George W. Bush took office, and you get an idea of the breathtaking deterioration of the country's fiscal condition in less than three years.

So, between the original surplus estimate and the latest deficit estimate, we are talking about a difference of roughly $11 TRILLION. Now, what could our nation do with an additional $11 Trillion? Gee, there's education, poverty, health, jobs, security, foreign aid, NASA, U.N., NATO, WHO, income taxes, just to name a few. And just maybe they would finally fill that nasty pothole down the street.