U.S. TREASURY WEB SITE REVEALS $ HALF-TRILLION DEFICIT

By JOHN CRUDELE

May 14, 2002

HARDLY anyone noticed but the Federal budget deficit rose to more than a half-trillion dollars last year.

That's not a typo. My typing is just fine.

And that incredible figure comes from no less an authority than U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.

If you've been following the newspapers lately you've probably noticed that Republicans and Democrats have been squabbling over the expected budget surplus that suddenly disappeared. The politicians are also bickering over how this country will manage the sharp increase in Federal spending that will be required in the war on terrorism.

The hand-wringing has been over the fact that the government expected $75 billion more in tax revenues this year than actually arrived. With that revenue shortfall, the federal budget deficit - the one elected officials are publicly worried about - will be $121 billion and not the $46 billion upon which projections were made.

Forget all that. That's chump change.

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