Chart o’ the Day: Messy Democracy Works, US Deficit Plummets

You won’t hear a lot about this in the media, but the secret of the past few years’ worth of congressional gridlock and partisan bickering is that it’s actually working (when combined with the actions of the Fed). That big, scary budget deficit that had you racing for the sidelines or under a rock is actually dropping at record rates.

Via The National Memo:

…in 2013, after the Bush tax rates expired, Congress voted to end the tax breaks for those earning $400,000, along with slightly higher taxes on capital gains and inheritances. The resulting increase in revenue along with budget cuts and the fastest growing job market since 2005 have resulted in a deficit that’s falling at nearly record rates.

The deficit was cut by $409 billion, or 37 percent, from the last fiscal year to $680 billion—$170 billion less than the Congressional Budget Office originally predicted.

While these numbers are still large, they’re even more impressive when you consider the key metric economists look at — deficit as a share of gross domestic product.

The White House presented this chart to illustrate how significant the reduction actually is:

Source:

Far More Republicans Believe In Climate Change And Evolution Than The Ever-Shrinking Deficit (The National Memo)