Ask David Wessel
Q: What exactly is the budget deficit, and what harm does it do?</br></br>Bill Shearer</br></br>Hanahan, S.C.</br></br>Charleston Post and Courier</br></br>A: The budget deficit was $412 billion, or 3.6% of the nation's gross domestic product, for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That's the grand tally of all the money the U.S. government takes in versus all the money it spends, including Social Security payroll taxes and benefits. (If you exclude Social Security, as some people like to do, the rest of the government ran $568 billion in the red.)