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Originally Posted by opendoor
That sounds about right. The federal deficit is expected to shrink from about $55 billion last year to $32 billion this year. Initially the government was hoping to be generating surpluses by 2015, but it doesn't sound like that timeline is very likely at this point.
If you adjust for inflation, we're back at about 1990 levels in terms of public debt and still a ways off the mid '90s peak, so we're looking OK on that front. Still, by the time they get the budget back into the black we'll have seen a 25% increase in public debt since 2008. That's a lot better than the Trudeau and Mulroney years, but it's more than I'd like to see over such a short time period.
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Deficits rising in periods of economic stress, when tax revenues fall and governments typically spend to inflate, is not unusual.
Where governments often fail is with an inability to curb spending and bring deficits down in periods of economic expansion.
That's always where the real test is.
The Liberals with Jean Chretian and Paul Martin did a great job through the 90's in this regard.
Cowperson