They must think we're not paying attention.

Have a look at this statement, from an editorial in the Washington Post:

The Bush administration announced last week its revised figure for this year's budget deficit: $445 billion. This, or so the spin goes, is good news, because the original forecast was even higher -- $521 billion. But outside budget experts had warned that the forecast was inflated, which tarnishes any celebration of the new number. Not that the administration was deterred. "This improved budget outlook is the direct result of the strong economic growth the president's tax relief has fueled," crowed Office of Management and Budget.... Only in the administration's upside-down economic world could a deficit $70 billion higher than last year's be hailed as progress.

We've seen this movie before, haven't we? This editorial exposes the Administration's little deficit trick, the 2004 campaign edition.

OK, the Bush Administration isn't the first to try this maneuver. But how egregious it is compared to recent administrations? As Bloomberg reports:

"Bush's budget-forecast misses in the past six years averaged $111.5 billion, according to figures from the White House Office of Management and Budget. That ranks him behind the Reagan administration's $98.1 billion average gap, George H.W. Bush's average of $69.9 billion, and about twice the Clinton administration's $58 billion average."

That's quite some record. The biggest misforecast in 21 years."

The final CBO FY 2006 deficit estimate numbs are in … at a cool quarter of a trillion dollars. The $250 billion figure released today is well under CBO’s estimate of $337 billion at the beginning of the year and the $318 billion actual deficit for FY2005.

Until this summer, the deficit projections were uniformly in the $300 billion-range, but a late surge in corporate income helped boost FY2006 revenues by $253 billion over last year’s total.

Despite this year’s figures, the nation is still experiencing the largest 6-year deterioration in the budget in 50 years, a $486 billion drop from the last surplus recorded in FY00, said House Budget ranking member John Spratt (D-SC).

Moreover, the reduced deficit figure for FY06 obscures the true nature of the nation's fiscal condition going forward. According to CBPP:

The outlook for the budget over the next 10 years (much less for the following decades, when increasing numbers of baby boomers will retire) remains bleak. CBO’s projections show that, if the President’s tax cuts are made permanent and relief from the alternative minimum tax is extended, deficits will total nearly $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years (2007-2016).