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According to the 2011 budget, the projected deficit in the coming year
is nearly 11 percent of the country's entire economic output.

The first is the projected deficit in the coming year, nearly 11
percent of the country’s entire economic output. That is not
unprecedented: During the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the
United States ran soaring deficits, but usually with the expectation
that they would come back down once peace was restored and war spending
abated.

But the second number, buried deeper in the budget’s projections, is
the one that really commands attention: By President Obama’s own
optimistic projections, American deficits will not return to what are
widely considered sustainable levels over the next 10 years. In fact, in
2019 and 2020 — years after Mr. Obama has left the political scene,
even if he serves two terms — they start rising again sharply, to more
than 5 percent of gross domestic product. His budget draws a picture of a
nation that like many American homeowners simply cannot get above
water.

For Mr. Obama and his successors, the effect of those projections is
clear: Unless miraculous growth, or miraculous political compromises,
creates some unforeseen change over the next decade, there is virtually
no room for new domestic initiatives for Mr. Obama or his successors.
Beyond that lies the possibility... >>>