Record U.S. deficit of $1.4 trillion could have been worse

The United States has just logged its biggest budget deficit year in history.The nation posted a $46.6 billion deficit for September, and a record $1.42 trillion deficit for the 2009 fiscal year, which ended September 30, the U.S. Treasury announced Friday. But there is actually some good news, of sorts, in the swelling national debt figures.

The positive note? The $1.42 trillion deficit is $162 billion less than the $1.58 trillion deficit projected by the U.S. Treasury in its August Mid-Session Review.