Dissecting the US deficit

When we talk about deficits, we need to differentiate between current account deficits and budget deficits. 

Current account deficits comprise following balances of payments between foreign countries and has been pretty steady in negative territory for the United States (around $US 500 billion deficit):

• Net Trade in Goods 
• Net Trade in Services 
• Net Income from overseas assets 
• Net Transfers 

The budget deficit on the other hand is the difference between government tax revenues and government spending (social security, pensions, medicare,...) and has been exploding since 2008.

Here lies the real problem: The government deficit, which was released to be a record $US 220 billion in February 2012 alone.

=> Let's take a closer look at its subparts: federal, local, state deficits (link to data), in this analysis: Dissecting the US deficit.

Total government budget (Local, State, Federal):

Total Government Spending - Revenues