US DATA: CBO budget analysis is out, “The United States is facing
profound budgetary and economic challenges. At 8.5 percent of gross
domestic product (GDP), the $1.3 trillion budget deficit that the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects for 2011 will be the
third-largest shortfall in the past 65 years (exceeded only by the
deficits of the preceding two years). This year’s deficit stems in part
from the long shadow cast on the U.S. economy by the financial crisis
and the recent recession. Although economic output began to expand again
two years ago, the pace of the recovery has been slow, and the economy
remains in a severe slump. Recent turmoil in financial markets in the
United States and overseas threatens to prolong the slump.”