[tapp]

> Our deficit is $14.6 trillion.

Just in the interest of precision: it's actually our national debt which is approximately 14.6 trillion. Our deficit this year will be closer to 1.5T.

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12039

Not that they aren't both mind-boggling numbers

[j_baker]

I was thinking about the cumulative 10-year deficit. I swear I've heard the number $14.6 trillion somewhere, but maybe I'm thinking of the debt. At any rate, I wasn't that far off. From the link you gave:

By 2021, the budget deficit would be about double the baseline projection, and with cumulative deficits totaling nearly $12 trillion over the 2012–2021 period, debt held by the public would reach 97 percent of GDP, the highest level since 1946.

Adding in this year's deficit, it comes out to $13.5 trillion.