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Article here. Record Deficit? Well not really. Despite what many newspapers are reporting as "record deficits" the current deficit is not a record breaker. However, when adjusting all budget surpluses and deficits to 2000 dollars another picture emerges (Note: While the OMB has data back to 1789 I am looking only at data from 1940 onwards).

1. Highest Budget Deficit: 1943 $486.2 billion. 2. Second highest Budget Deficit: 1945 $456.8 billion. 3. Third highest Budget Deficit: 1944 $448.2 billion. 4. Fourth highest Budget Deficit: 2004 $383.7 billion (estimated).* So...is that big? Sure, but it isn't a record buster. In fact it is short by about $100 billion dollars. The first link above, the Seattle Post Intelligencer, is particularly misleading. Note this paragraph