The US will be in the red by almost half a trillion dollars next year thanks largely to the spiralling cost of involvement in Iraq, a non-partisan government report says.
In its twice-yearly Budget Outlook, the Congressional Budget Office says the US will run up a deficit of $480bn in 2004, following a $401bn deficit this year.
The figures - a new record in dollar terms - are markedly worse than the CBO predicted in March this year, when the 2003 number was seen at $246bn.
They suggest a near-$1.4 trillion deficit in the 10 years to 2013 where they had previously foreseen a surplus of $891bn.
The CBO figures assume that the White House's massive programme of tax cuts will be temporary, as promised.
If they are made permanent, something many Republicans have sworn to achieve, the deficit could swell to almost $3 trillion over the 10-year period.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3182339.stm
In its twice-yearly Budget Outlook, the Congressional Budget Office says the US will run up a deficit of $480bn in 2004, following a $401bn deficit this year.
The figures - a new record in dollar terms - are markedly worse than the CBO predicted in March this year, when the 2003 number was seen at $246bn.
They suggest a near-$1.4 trillion deficit in the 10 years to 2013 where they had previously foreseen a surplus of $891bn.
The CBO figures assume that the White House's massive programme of tax cuts will be temporary, as promised.
If they are made permanent, something many Republicans have sworn to achieve, the deficit could swell to almost $3 trillion over the 10-year period.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3182339.stm
