Table 1 below shows Federal Tax Revenues, Federal Expenditures and the Budget Surplus or Deficit from 1993 (the first year of the Clinton Presidency) to 2011.

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Indeed, if spending and deficits are the problem, why would a scenario in which our government could no longer spend either in surplus or deficit be so bad?

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They treat capital expenditures, like buildings and long-term assets, the same way they treat operational expenditures, so it's really impossible to tell if we have a surplus or deficit or what.

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To assess how Mr Brown is measuring up to his golden rule, economists have to adjust each year's deficit or surplus according to their reading of the economic cycle.

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Mr Geithner has suggested deficit or surplus targets of less than 4% of gross domestic product as an alternative to pressing China to allow its currency, the renminbi, to appreciate faster.

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That is, no deficit or surplus.

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The primary deficit (or surplus) is what the public accounts look like after you take off all of the interest and debt repayments the government has to make.

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Worrying about a trade deficit, or a trade surplus, is largely useless.

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Back to reality, it must be stressed that applied to our present economic situation, whether government spending is in deficit, balanced, or in surplus is immaterial.

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