The federal government has run more than $1 trillion deficits for each of the past four fiscal years, as Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center has shown in graphical form. Keep in mind, this is using the federal government’s own misleading cash-basis accounting and does not include all of the unfunded liabilities such as Medicare and Social Security entitlements. De Rugy also notes that prior to fiscal year 2009, federal deficits had never surpassed $500 billion.
