U.S. Starts Fiscal 2010 With $176 Billion Gap

From Reuters -  The U.S. government began fiscal 2010 with a record shortfall for the month of October, right after posting a record $1.4 trillion budget gap for all of the 2009 budget year, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

 

The department, in its monthly budget statement, reported a $176.36 billion budget gap in October, which was the fifth largest deficit for any month. That exceeded both Wall Street analysts ' expectations for $150 billion deficit, and the October 2008 deficit of $155.5 billion.

 

The report for October pointed to a growing gap between government spending and income at a time when a fragile economy is beginning to emerge from the steepest recession in 70 years. The federal budget year starts on Oct. 1.