Is our national debt problem solved?

The Congressional Budget Office just lopped $200 billion off the federal deficit. Laissez les bon temps rouler?

Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office revised its estimates about the federal deficit, and it was music to fiscal hawks' ears. "If the current laws that govern federal taxes and spending do not change, the budget deficit will shrink this year to $642 billion," the CBO says. That's $200 billion less than the CBO's last estimate, in February, and the smallest deficit since President Obama took office.

As a percentage of gross domestic product, things look even better. This year, the deficit should be 4 percent of GDP, from 10.1 percent in 2009, and it should fall to 2.1 percent of GDP by 2015 — that's better than the average of "3.1 percent of GDP over the past 40 years and 2.4 percent in the 40 years before fiscal year 2008," the CBO says.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.