The U.S. Treasury announced last Thursday that the federal deficit was $128.7 billion in August. That’s 13 percent lower than it was during the same month last year.Washington typically records a budget surplus in September and $80 billion or so in black ink is in fact projected for next month. If that occurs as expected, the deficit for all of 2014 will be about $500 billion. That will be more than 26 percent below 2013 and the smallest federal deficit by far since 2008.The deficit has been such a corrosive and destabilizing issue over the past six years that the Treasury’s report should have provided an excuse for all of the participants in the budget debate to say something about the numbers.Whether you like them and want to take a victory lap for the lowest deficit in six years, or hate them and want to criticize a deficit that still seems high in nominal terms, last Thursday presented the kind of rhetorical opportunity that in the past would have been too good for most people to pass up.Read More.Source: Forbes/Stan Collender