$1.4 trillion deficit

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The Congressional Budget Office said the U.S. government fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 showed a budget deficit of $1.4 trillion.

That figure is three times the previous record deficit, set the previous year. The Obama administration has consistently blamed the recession and economic conditions left over from the Bush administration as reasons for the record shortfall.

However, the deficit has many fathers. Certainly the recession played a role in the large drop in tax revenues and the Bush White House initiated $245 billion in emergency spending on various financial bailouts. But the Obama White House's stimulus plan added another $200 billion and there have been additional outlays for programs such as expanded unemployment benefits.

The White House has set a target of the deficit being no more than 3 percent of gross domestic product. That figure for fiscal 2009 was about 10 percent, heights not reached since World War II and the 3 percent target would be close to the deficit for fiscal 2008, which had been the largest in U.S. history until this year.