Not a big surprise, but seeing the numbers in black and white sort of takes your breath away. Washington Times: The federal government set a new monthly record deficit of $232 billion in February and has notched a total of $581 billion in the first five months of the fiscal year, according to the Treasury Department's official count released Monday.February's record is $8 billion more than the previous monthly record, set in February 2011, and came chiefly because of a drop in individual income tax receipts.The overall deficit remains on pace to top $1 trillion this year for the fourth year in a row - but is down slightly from its pace last year, chiefly because of higher corporate tax receipts and estate and gift taxes, which topped $5 billion. At this point in fiscal 2011, just $54 million had been collected in gift and estate taxes.On the other side of the ledger, spending was down from $1.51 trillion to $1.47 trillion. Low interest rates continue to help the...(Read Full Post)