The federal deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010 was either $1.3 trillion or $1.6 trillion depending on the numbers you choose to use, and whether smoke and mirrors are applied.

The federal deficit for the just-finished 2010 budget year was a little under $1.3 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday.

Of course, the $1.3 trillion number that we'll be hearing in the news for the next few days is using the smoke-and-mirrors D.C. accounting that I wrote about here, and which allowed Clinton to claim a surplus when he really had a deficit every year he was in office.

The reality is that the national debt was $11.9205 trillion on October 1, 2009 and was $13.5616 trillion on September 30, 2010. That means that although the government says the deficit was less than $1.3 trillion, the national debt increased by $1.6411 trillion for FY2010.

For those that live in the real world (rather than in Congress in Washington DC), that means our real deficit was $1.6411 trillion.

That, combined with the real $1.7856 trillion deficit from FY2009, means that our national debt has increased $3.4267 trillion since the economic crisis began.

And since the left will probably revert once again to, "Clinton had a surplus and Bush made it a deficit," it's good to remember that that isn't true. Clinton only had a surplus using Washington DC smoke and mirrors. The reality is that he ran a deficit and increased the national debt every single year he was in office.