If you haven’t seen this Reuters piece yet, you might not know that the April federal budget deficit was $83 billion.

Last year, the April deficit was $21 billion. Wall Street projected this April’s deficit to be $40 billion. It came in at $83 billion.

Most of the time, April is a really good month for the federal government’s cash flow. Since the filing deadline for individual taxes comes on the 15th, lots of money comes into the Treasury. In fact, the government has run a surplus for April in 43 of the last 56 years. But that trend is over; the government has run budget deficits in 19 straight months, which is the longest string ever recorded.

The $83 billion is the largest deficit for April on record, which is not a surprise since the overall budget deficit is the worst ever, or will be by the end of the year.

The government spent $327.96 billion in April. Last year it spent $287.11 billion.

Receipts to the government were $245.27 billion. Last year they were $266.21 billion.

Meanwhile, the CBO reports that they weren’t given the time to fully vet Obamacare and now that they’ve done a full analysis they think it’s going to cost at least $115 billion more over the next 10 years than originally estimated.

Current trends illustrate a number of things you already know. First, government spending does not generate increased government receipts. The stimulus failed. You can’t spend your way to prosperity. And second, we have neither the money nor the standing to participate in a bailout of the Greeks when we are engaged in policy which makes them look like tightwads.

We’ll be told the deficits are a major problem and that we have to get a handle on them. We’ll be told we have to get a handle on them by paying higher taxes, in the form of a VAT. And that the Bush tax cuts are the reason for the deficit, and it’s only responsible to let them go away.

They’ll tell us that. And they’ll tell us, as Joe Biden did in 2008, that paying taxes is patriotic. Shut up and write the check.