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US Budget Deficit Grows in February

The US Treasury Department reported today that the budget deficit for the month of February totaled $231.7 billion, up from $222.5 billion in February 2011. The deficit for the first five months of the 2012 fiscal year totals $580.8 billion,…

By Paul Ausick
Published March 12, 2012, 2:26pm ET · 1 min read

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The US Treasury Department reported today that the budget deficit for the month of February totaled $231.7 billion, up from $222.5 billion in February 2011. The deficit for the first five months of the 2012 fiscal year totals $580.8 billion, some $60 billion lower than for the same period a year ago.

The US budget deficit is on its way to another $1 trillion deficit in this fiscal year, but the projection from the Congressional Budget Office calls for an annual deficit this year of $1.08 trillion compared with $1.29 trillion a year ago. The deficit in fiscal year 2010 totaled $1.41 trillion.

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Paul Ausick

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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