Um, that chart you're looking at shows our public debt, not the deficit. It's the difference between buying your house in cash, and meeting your mortgage payment. The scary thing is that we aren't even meeting our mortgage payments.
The deficit = debt year 1 - debt year 2
Do you need an example?
1959 debt.. $290,797,771,717.63
1960 debt.. $290,216,815,241.68
1960 ................ $580,956,475.95 surplus
1999 debt.. $5,656,270,901,615.43
2000 debt.. $5,674,178,209,886.86
2000 .............. $17,907,308,271.43 deficit