The budget deficit in the U.S. widened over the first six months of fiscal 2015 as spending on Social Security and health services increased, a government report showed.
Spending exceeded revenue by $439.5 billion from October through March, compared with a $413.3 billion deficit in the same period the prior year, Treasury Department figures released Monday showed. The shortfall in March was bigger than economists projected.
The deficit is widening even as the economy accelerates. The U.S. is on pace to post a $486 billion shortfall in the full fiscal year, or 2.7 percent of the economy, compared with 2.8 percent last year, said Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado.
“We’re stuck with (continue reading)