Oh, boy, it's that time of the month again, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its Monthly Budget Review (MBR) for December. Let's see, the government spent a little less than it did at this time last year, but it continued to take in less money, which, along with the deficits in October and November, created an approximately $390 billion budget deficit through the first quarter of fiscal year 2010. Overall, the MBR continues to paint a rather ugly picture of government finances.

On the CBO's Director's Blog, the non-partisan budget office explains the December budget shortfall, which the government usually experiences as a net gain, thusly:

December 2009 marks the second consecutive December that the federal budget will record a deficit, CBO estimates. Typically, December yields a budget surplus because most corporations make quarterly income tax payments and withholding for individuals is relatively high because of year-end bonuses and seasonal employment. The deficit in December was $92 billion, CBO estimates, about $40 billion more than the deficit recorded in December 2008. Adjusted to eliminate variation attributable to shifts in the timing of certain payments, the deficit was about $11 billion greater than it was the same month last year.

Read the rest of the CBO report to soak up all the dismal estimates, budget totals, and receipts and outlays you can get your hands on.

Note: look for CBO to produce new budget projections for 2010 and the following ten years at the end of this month. Assuming that current spending and revenue laws continue without change, these projections provide congressional members with a new budget baseline that will allow them to measure more accurately the budgetary effects of proposed legislation during the upcoming session of Congress.

Image by Flickr user johnsolid used under a Creative Commons license.