Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
US budget deficit hits $2.77 trillion in 2021, 2nd highest on record
WASHINGTON — The U.S. budget deficit totaled $2.77 trillion for 2021, the second highest on record but an improvement from the all-time high of $3.13 trillion reached in 2020. The deficits in both years reflect trillions of dollars in government spending to counteract the devastating effects of a global pandemic.
The Biden administration said Friday that deficit for the budget year that ended Sept. 30 was $360 billion lower than 2020, as a recovering economy boosted revenues, helping to offset government spending from pandemic relief efforts.
Before the deficit ballooned during two years of a global pandemic, the biggest deficit had been a shortfall of $1.4 trillion in 2009. At that time, the U.S. was spending heavily to lift the country out of a severe recession following the 2008 financial crisis.
As a percentage of the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, the 2021 deficit represents 12.4% of GDP, down from the 2020 deficit, which was 15% of GDP.
The 2020 deficit was the highest in relation to the overall economy since World War II, when it hit 29.6% of GDP in 1943 as the United States was borrowing heavily to finance the war effort. Those figures remained elevated at 22.2% of GDP in 1944 and 21% of GDP in 1945 before beginning to retreat once the war was won.
For 2021, the joint report from Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget said government spending increased 4.1% to $6.82 trillion.
This was offset by an increase of 18.3% in government revenues to $4 trillion. The revenue gain reflected an improving economy as millions of people who had lost jobs at the start of the pandemic went back to work and corporate profits rebounded after a horrendous 2020.
For 2021, interest on the debt totaled $562 billion, up $40 billion from the previous year. However much of that increase is due to higher inflation, which required the government to pay holders of Treasury securities higher returns. Payments on overall debt have remained relatively stable because interest rates have stayed low, even though the debt levels have been surging. Total public debt now stands around 100% of total GDP.
Ethiopian airstrikes: Ethiopian military airstrikes on Friday forced a United Nations humanitarian flight to abandon its landing in the capital of the country’s Tigray region, and a government spokesman said authorities were aware of the inbound flight. It appeared to be a sharp escalation in intimidation tactics authorities have used against aid workers amid the intensifying, yearlong Tigray war.
Further U.N. flights have been suspended to Mekele, the base of humanitarian operations in Tigray, the World Food Program told The Associated Press.
It said the flight with 11 passengers had been cleared by federal authorities but “received instructions to abort landing by the Mekele airport control tower.” It safely returned to Addis Ababa.
A military spokesman didn’t respond to questions.
Queen Elizabeth II: Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was back at Windsor Castle on Friday and in good spirits after revelations that she spent the night in a London hospital earlier this week.
Buckingham Palace said the 95-year-old British monarch went to the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on Wednesday for “preliminary investigations.” She returned to her Windsor Castle home at lunchtime on Thursday and was understood to be back at her desk by afternoon, undertaking light duties.
The queen underwent the tests after she canceled a scheduled trip to mark 100 years since the creation of Northern Ireland, and the palace said she had “reluctantly” accepted medical advice to rest for a few days. The matter was not related to COVID-19.
Police officer charged: A Minneapolis police officer has been charged with manslaughter and vehicular homicide for a crash in July that killed an innocent motorist while the officer was pursuing a stolen vehicle, a prosecutor announced Friday.
Officer Brian Cummings was driving nearly 80 mph in Minneapolis with his siren and lights activated when his squad car slammed into another vehicle, killing 40-year-old Leneal Frazier, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement.
The crash ended a chase that lasted more than 20 blocks, including through residential neighborhoods where the posted speed limit is 25 mph.
During Cummings’ chase, Frazier’s Jeep entered an intersection on a green light. According to investigators, the driver of the stolen vehicle narrowly missed Frazier’s Jeep before the squad car struck it on the driver’s side.
Cummings’ attorney, Thomas Plunkett, declined to immediately comment. The city’s police union didn’t immediately respond to a message.
South Sudan flooding: This is the third straight year of extreme flooding in South Sudan, further imperiling livelihoods of many of the 11 million people in the world’s youngest country. A five-year civil war, hunger and corruption have all challenged the nation. Now climate change, which the United Nations has blamed for the flooding, is impossible to ignore.
The U.N. says the flooding has affected almost a half-million people across South Sudan since May. In Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, the Lol river has burst its banks.
A new report this week coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization warned of increasing such climate shocks to come across much of Africa, the continent that contributes the least to global warming but will suffer from it most.
Climate protests: Environmental campaigners staged protests on several continents on Friday to press their demands for more government action to curb global warming ahead of the upcoming U.N. climate summit in Glasgow.
Protesters rallied in Uganda, Bangladesh, India, Italy, Sweden and Germany to call for measures preventing dangerous global warming levels and taking into account the plight of the world’s poorest, who are particularly hard-hit by climate change.
Thousands of mostly young people rallied at Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, carrying banners featuring slogans such as “Act now or swim later” and “Don’t melt our future.”
In Stockholm, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg took part in the protest. Her weekly “school strike for climate” helped inspire the international protest movement that saw regular, vast demonstrations before restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic curtailed such rallies.