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<b>First Posted:</b> 7/29/2008<br><br>ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON &amp;mdash; The next president will inherit a record budget deficit of $482 billion, according to a new Bush administration estimate released Monday.

The administration said the deficit was being driven to an all-time high by the sagging economy and the stimulus payments being made to 130 million households in an effort to keep the country from falling into a deep recession. But the numbers could go even higher if the economy performs worse than the White House predicts.
The budget office predicts the economy will grow at a rate of 1.6 percent this year and will rebound to a 2.2 percent growth rate next year. That&amp;rsquo;s a half percentage point more than predicted by the widely cited &amp;ldquo;blue chip&amp;rdquo; consensus of leading economists. The administration also sees inflation averaging 3.8 percent this year, but easing to 2.3 percent next year &amp;mdash; better than the 3.0 percent seen by the blue chip panel.
A $482 billion deficit, however, would easily surpass the record deficit of $413 billion set in 2004.
The deficit numbers for 2008 and 2009 represent about 3 percent of the size of the economy, which is the measure seen as most relevant by economists. By that measure, the 2008 and 2009 deficits would be smaller than the deficits of the 1980s and early 1990s, when Congress and earlier administrations cobbled together politically painful deficit-reduction packages.
The administration actually underestimates the deficit, however, since it leaves out about $80 billion in war costs. In a break from tradition &amp;mdash; and in violation of new mandates from Congress &amp;mdash; the White House did not include its full estimate of war costs.

U.S. deficit hits record high levels