The recent publicly announced Federal Budget Deficit for 2009 is widely reported to be $1.4 trillion.

This figure is inaccurate. Why? Because the Government made an "accounting change".

The real deficit is easily determined.

Thanks to a convenient web page maintained by the Treasury Department, you can access the National Debt data for any day, or range of days.

I chose the range Oct. 1, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009. The government's fiscal year starts on Oct. 1 each year and ends on Sept. 30.

On Oct. 1, 2008, the National Debt was $10,124,225,067,127.69. On Sept. 30, 2009 the debt was $11,909,829,003,511.75. Subtract the two and voila! Do you get the $1.4 trillion dollar figure? Nope.

Our National Debt has increased not by "only" $1 trillion under President Obama, but has actually increased by over $1.8 trillion.

The media should report the actual figure, not the "adjusted" figure and report that the $1.4 trillion is an adjusted figure every time they use that number.

Of course, these figures don't reflect the unfunded liabilities of over $100 trillion for Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. That's a story for another happy day.