Not sure which graph you are looking at. If you look at the following: https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/horowitz-deficits-011.png https:

Not sure which graph you are looking at. If you look at the following: https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/horowitz-deficits-011.png https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/horo... You will see as economy gets stronger deficit will shrink which is what you see in the late 90s and toward the end of W the era. When Financial crisis hit the deficit grew as government pumped in money to stabilize the system and as the economy grew better under Obama the deficit shrunk. The economy is pretty strong by most measures so you would think the deficit would shrink. However with tax cuts and spending increases that is not going to be the case.