NEW estimates from the White House predict the United States budgetdeficit will reach a record US$1.47 trillion this year. The government is borrowing 41 cents of every dollar it spends.

The new estimates paint a grim unemployment picture as the economy experiences a relatively jobless recovery.

The Office of Management and Budget report has ominous news for President Barack Obama should he seek re-election in 2012, a still-high unemployment rate of 8.1 percent. That would be well above normal, which is closer to a rate of 5.5 percent to 6 percent. Private economists don't think the unemployment rate will drop to those levels until well into this decade.

"The US economy still faces strong headwinds," the OMB report said. They include tight credit markets, a high inventory of unsold housing and retrenchment by state governments bound by balanced budget mandates. The European debt crisis has also had an impact.

"Despite these headwinds, the administration expects economic growth and job creation to continue for the rest of 2010 and to rise in 2011 and beyond," the report said.

The budgetdeficit is of increasing concern to voters. But Obama and Democrats controlling Congress are mostlytaking a pass on deficitreduction this year as they await possible recommendations from Obama's deficitcommission.

While there's a slight improvement in the deficit for the current year compared to the administration's February forecast, next year's predicted US$1.42 trillion worth of red ink -- that's 37 cents of borrowing for every dollar spent -- is looking worse. It's about US$150 billion more than previouslypredicted, because of still-slumping tax revenues.

The current record holder is the US$1.41 trillion deficit for 2009.

Economists agree that the most important measure of the deficit is against the size of the economy. Opinions vary, but many economists say a deficit of 3 percent of gross domestic product is sustainable.

The report puts the deficit at 10 percent of GDP this year and 9.2 percent next year.

• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• management [´mænidʒmənt] n.管理；处理；经营 (初中英语单词)
• normal [´nɔ:məl] a.正规的 n.正常状态 (初中英语单词)
• european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
• administration [əd,minis´treiʃən] n.管理(事务等)；经营 (初中英语单词)
• creation [kri´eiʃən] n.创作；作品；创造 (初中英语单词)
• mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中英语单词)
• reduction [ri´dʌkʃən] n.减少；缩小；降低 (初中英语单词)
• improvement [im´pru:vmənt] n.改进，改善，进步 (初中英语单词)
• measure [´meʒə] n.量度；范围 vt.测量 (初中英语单词)
• domestic [də´mestik] a.家庭的；本国的 (初中英语单词)
• predict [pri´dikt] v.预言；预告；预示 (高中英语单词)
• budget [´bʌdʒit] n.&vi.(做)预算；安排 (高中英语单词)
• unemployment [,ʌnim´plɔimənt] n.失业；失业人数 (高中英语单词)
• relatively [´relətivli] ad.比较地；相对地 (高中英语单词)
• recovery [ri´kʌvəri] n.重获；获得；恢复 (高中英语单词)
• decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中英语单词)
• crisis [´kraisis] n.转折点；危机 (高中英语单词)
• commission [kə´miʃən] n.委任(状) vt.委任 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• previously [´pri:viəsli] ad.预先；以前 (高中英语单词)
• holder [´həuldə] n.所有物；土地；股份 (高中英语单词)
• ominous [´ɔminəs] a.不祥的；预示的 (英语四级单词)
• deficit [´defisit] n.缺乏，赤字，亏空 (英语六级单词)
• impact [´impækt] n.影响，作用；冲击 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
• forecast [´fɔ:kɑ:st] vt.&n.预测；预报 (英语六级单词)