The Bush administration trumpeted its improved forecast for the federal budget deficit on Tuesday, but budget experts were unimpressed given the bleak long-term picture.

"The economic growth fueled by tax relief has helped send our tax revenue soaring," said President George W. Bush.

During the presidential race, Bush vowed to halve the deficit from a projected high of $521 billion, or 4.5% of gross domestic product, by 2009. Going by the new estimates, he will make good on his pledge one year ahead of schedule, thanks to an unexpected surge in tax receipts.

The administration's budget office now projects a budget gap of $188 billion, or 1.3% of GDP, in 2008. For the current fiscal year, which ends in September, it forecasts a shortfall of $296 billion, or 2.3% of GDP, down from the $423 billion it projected back in February, and from last year's $318 billion deficit, or 2.6% of GDP.

But critics on the left and the right agree that the news is underwhelming in light of the sharp deterioration in the deficit under Bush and a looming fiscal crunch that will make General Motors (nyse: GM)' woes look like a dream...

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