That's the amount - $482 Billion - that the white house budget office has estimated for next years deficit. It is equivalent to $1600 of debt for every single American. The forecast for economic growth this year and next, has also been lowered thanks to the nation's housing, credit and financial woes. All this happened under the Bush administration which had inherited three consecutive years of budget surpluses before they took over in 2001. Economic mismanagement at its worst, and when the next president's administration takes over they will be burdened with this debt and face major constraints on their tax and spending plans.

Lower than forecast growth rates and higher than expected debt would normally result in the dismissal of executives responsible. Unfortunately with the current government, there is no accountability and the debt will continue to grow until the American dollar becomes the American peso. As one comment on my previous post covering the housing relief bill said, maybe the best thing to do as investors is buy gold and short the dollar.

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