Obama White House Underestimated 2012 Deficit by $769.5B -- or 138%

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama released a budget today that estimates the federal deficit will drop to $901.4 billion in fiscal 2013, resulting in the first federal deficit of less than $1 trillion since Obama was elected in 2008. It also predicts the federal deficit will decline sharply in fiscal 2014, dropping all the way to $667.8 billion.

But the White House does not have a good record in estimating what the federal deficit will be in future years.

In February 2009, Obama submitted his first budget to Congress. It boldly predicted that the federal deficit would decrease dramatically during Obama’s term, dropping from an estimated $1.841 trillion in fiscal 2009 to $557.4 billion in fiscal 2012.

However, in the fiscal 2013 budget that Obama submitted to Congress today, the White House is predicting that the federal deficit for fiscal 2012 will not be $557.4 billion after all. Instead, the White House says, it will be $1.3269 trillion.

That means Obama’s fiscal 2010 budget proposal missed on its fiscal 2012 deficit prediction by $769.5 billion--an error of 138 percent.

The fiscal 2013 budget Obama submitted to Congress today once again predicts dramatically declining deficits. It predicts that by fiscal 2014, the federal deficit will drop to $667.8 billion.

If the White House misses that prediction by 138 percent, the fiscal 2014 deficit will actually be about $921.6 billion higher than $667.8 billion—coming in at $1.5894 trillion.