Outta’ control

A look at budget deficits projected by CBO:

There cannot be much doubt left that the U.S. economy is in a recession. The job loss statistics we saw last week — 10 straight months of shrinking payrolls that total 1.2 million eliminated positions and the highest unemployment rate since 1994 — will only get worse before Inauguration Day. And barely a week after Obama takes office, the Commerce Department is expected to report that the economy shriveled in the final three months of this year. That will mean we’ve suffered through two straight quarters of contraction already, the first time that happened since 1990-91.

The president-elect is already making plans to put money in the hands of those who might spend it to keep the economy afloat: With his urging, Congress may enact a smallish stimulus bill in the next week or two. There’s already a $61 billion House-passed measure of extended jobless benefits, Medicaid assistance and infrastructure money that could be sent to President Bush on short order, provided he signals a willingness to go along.

Then, prodded by overwhelming evidence that the economy is getting worse, the new president will press for yet another stimulus bill soon after his swearing-in. The result will be that the current year budget deficit balloons well past $1 trillion — and amount to between 7 percent and 8 percent of the U.S. economy as a whole, the highest it’s been since World War II.