"It's nothing to be cheerful about, but the magnitude of the relief payments and donations holds the potential to distort these figures," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Many economists say the US should save more and spend less, especially the federal government. Griswold of Cato said nothing in the budget should be immune from serious cuts, including the defense budget and entitlements.
But Robert Scott, senior analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group, said that it was "ludicrous to think the deficit is caused by a shortfall in savings."
The deficit, he said, is caused by the US' voracious appetite for foreign goods and its inability to sell enough overseas to balance those purchases.
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