12 May 2009 >> Courtesy of the Associated Press:

The government will have to borrow nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year, exploding the record federal deficit past $1.8 trillion under new White House estimates.

26 April 2009 @ 10:59AM >> Today’s Fact of the Day:

As of Sunday, the federal government has spent all the money it will raise in taxes for the current fiscal year. From now until the end of the fiscal year in the fall, the government will be spending money that it will borrow from the Chinese and others, which will be repaid by our children and grandchildren. With interest. This is the earliest Debt Day in modern history, if not ever. From 2002 until now, it has fallen between July and September.

21 April 2009 @ 7:17PM >> From Forbes:

If the government increased the top tax rate from the current rate of 35% to 100% (yes, that’s right 100%), it would only collect an extra $400 billion this year. In other words, confiscating all the income that is currently taxed at 35% would not raise enough revenue to cover any of the annual deficits projected in the next 10 years. There is no way that tax hikes on the rich alone can pay for proposed spending in the current budget.

Nevertheless, that fact alone won’t stop politicians from scapegoating “the rich,” I suspect.

8 April 2009 @ 8:49AM >> Fact of the Day, from the Congressional Budget Office:

The top 1% of taxpayers earned 19% of all income, and paid 28% of all federal taxes.

(In 2006, via TaxProf Blog.)

2 January 2009 @ 9:25AM >> A fun fact for the new year:

From 2000 to 2007, 93% of all new jobs created in the state of New Jersey were government jobs.

(Source: Wall Street Journal.)