In economics, there are some numbers you can afford to ignore.

A quarter of a percentage point cut in interest rates or a reduction in new unemployment claims of 10,000 probably isn’t going to make a world of difference in the long run.

There are other economic numbers, however, you ignore at your own peril.

And the Obama administration and Congress are approaching a budget deficit number that is the economic equivalent of an iceberg to the Titanic.

The White House had projected in February that its budget would produce a cumulative deficit of $7.1 trillion over the next decade.

That in itself is an astounding number.

But quietly over the August recess, the White House revised that figure upward to $9 trillion.

The issue isn’t who created the deficits.

What matters is how in the world the nation is going to deal with them.

On this, no one in the White House or in Congress has even a semblance of an answer. …

If the last year in the financial markets has proven anything, it is that there is no such thing as “too big to fail.”

That includes the U.S. government.

-San Antonio Express-News