From the second link: "The huge deficits came about entirely as a result of the economic downturn brought about by the collapse of the housing bubble." Since t

From the second link: "The huge deficits came about entirely as a result of the economic downturn brought about by the collapse of the housing bubble." Since the housing bubble and the collapse happened before Jan 2008, and was not _recognized_ (which is being used as an accounting term - i.e. put on paper) - using the phrase "on track" to include that subsequent recognizing seems perfectly reasonable.