Operating in the Red

I read an article today entitled “What’s the Real Federal Deficit? It exposes how the federal government is lying to the public about the deficit.
Seems there are two sets of books – the one used to report to the public, and the real set.

Some astounding and frightening figures:

Book 1 – 2005 experienced a $318 billion dollar deficit (scary)
Book 2 – 2005 experienced a $3.5 trillion dollar deficit (scarier)

Book 1 – the 2005 deficit was equal to a $2,800 deficit per US household (scary)
Book 2 – the 2005 deficit was equal to a $6,700 deficit per US household (scarier)

Book 1 – since 1997, the government has run a deficit of $729 billions dollars
Book 2 - Since 1997, the government has run a deficit of $2.9 trillion dollars

And lest any liberals begin screaming about the Bush administration:

The Clinton administration reported a surplus of $559 billion dollars in his final term. But Book 2 showed a deficit of $484 billion dollars (a difference of almost $1.5 trillion dollars if my public education serves me well.)

As a business owner, that makes writing that check for my payroll taxes even harder to swallow.