Dogged Deficit

The FY2018 deficit totaled $779 billion or 3.9% of GDP, up 17% from the FY2017 deficit of $666; 3.5% of GDP. While that doesn’t look bad, the details are troubling. Outlays as a percentage of GDP declined from 20.7% to 20.3%, which is good as unemployment is super low. But receipts, which should be jumping given the strong economy, plummeted from 17.2% of GDP in FY2017 to 16.5% in FY2018.