Deficit

This seems like good news:

The federal budget deficit reached an estimated $317 billion in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, a drop from last year's record $412 billion shortfall, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The improvement from 2004's record deficit stems from better-than-expected growth in tax revenue, the nonpartisan budget agency said. The deficit amounted to 2.6 percent of the gross domestic product in fiscal 2005, compared with 3.6 percent of the GDP the previous year.

In mid-August, the CBO had estimated that this year's deficit would be $331 billion. Federal revenue grew from 16.3 percent of the GDP in 2004 to 17.5 percent in the past fiscal year, the budget office said.

Hey, under 3 percent, that would qualify us for EU membership. Of course I suspect we'll be right back over that amount after the Katrina spending comes through.