So what was the real Federal deficit in 2016?

The Treasury Department says that the official deficit for Fiscal Year 2016 was $590 Billion.  The Treasury Department also says that Federal debt grew by $1.4 Trillion.  How to explain this?

Simples.  Just like the Fed.Gov lies about the inflation and unemployment rates, it lies about the deficit:

The answer is that Congress uses all kinds of accounting tricks to pretend that money it borrows isn’t part of the deficit...

From the Antiplanner’s point of view, the most important accounting trick is that some spending from borrowed money is regarded as “an investment,” and so isn’t counted in the deficit. This includes student loans and highway and transit spending. In 2016, Congress borrowed $70 billion to pay for highways and transit, yet that isn’t included in the $590 billion deficit.

Someone needs to explain to Congress the difference between consumption spending and investments. Investments are supposed to produce a return. Assuming they are repaid, student loans produce a return. But no one expects that highway or transit spending will ever return money to the Treasury.

I'm just so tired of every single "fact" told to me by the Establishment turning out to be a lie.  And this pretty well sums my feelings up:

Our entire federal government has become a giant Ponzi scheme, and the two parties fighting for control over who will get the last returns from that scheme before it collapses.

What a miserable, contemptible ruling class.