The Economy

I have been a little concerned about the recent crisis within our economy. Well, it actually isn't 'recent'; it is just publicized within the media/political sector because of Wall Street, AIG, etc. This recent crisis and reading several months ago that the White House reported not long ago that our nation will reach a record deficit - led me to a question, '....didn't we have a surplus?' I wanted to attain some information regarding the surplus and deficit history within our nation. It took a while, but I found some very interesting information. This is just food for thought. I am just a reporter in this particular blog; I would ask that, as the reader, you would draw your own conclusions.

This is a summary of Deficits (which have a negative symbol), Surplus, and the Year. Note: This represents millions; therefore...-$400,000 would equal a 400 billion dollar deficit.

1975 $-73,732
1976 $-53,659
1977 $-59,185
1978 $-40,726
1979 $-73,830
1980 $-78,968
1981 $-127,977
1982 $-207,802
1983 $-185,367
1984 $-212,308
1985 $-221,227
1986 $-149,730
1987 $-155,178
1988 $-152,639
1989 $-221,036
1990 $-269,238
1991 $-290,321
1992 $-255,051
1993 $-203,186
1994 $-163,952
1995 $-107,431
1996 $-21,884
1997 $69,270
1998 $125,610
1999 $236,241
2000 $128,236
2001 $-157,758
2002 $-377,585
2003 $-412,727
2004 $-318,346
2005 $-248,181
2006 $-162,002
2007 $-410,047
2008 $-407,408

Another interesting point. At the beginning of 2001, our nation had a surplus of $540 Billion. As of now, our DEFICIT stands at $2.659 Trillion (not including the bank bailouts.) Is there a reason this information isn't mentioned more in the media? I guess it's not important. I don't know!