A look at the key components of the federal budget

The federal government ran a budget deficit of $150.4 billion in November, the biggest November deficit in history. For the first two months of the new budget year, which began on Oct. 1, the deficit is running 2 percent below the same period a year ago. Here are key components of the federal budget.

REVENUE: The government has received $294.9 billion in receipts in the first two months of the budget year, up 10 percent from the same period a year ago. Individual income taxes are up 24.4 percent compared to a year ago.

SPENDING: The government has spend $585.7 billion, up 3.6 percent from a year ago.

TWO-MONTH DEFICIT: With revenues rising faster than incomes, the deficit through the first two months of the 2011 budget year totals $290.8 billion, down 2 percent from the same period last year.

DEFICIT HISTORY: The government has run record trillion-dollar-plus deficits over the past two years. The deficit in 2009 was $1.42 trillion, the all-time high, and the 2010 deficit was $1.29 trillion.

DEFICIT OUTLOOK: Before the tax agreement reached this week between the White House and Republicans, private economists were looking for the deficits to show some improvement this year, dipping to around $1.21 trillion.

However, with the tax cut deal expected to cost $855 billion over the next two years, the deficit estimates are being boosted. Economists at JPMorgan Chase released a new forecast Friday projecting the deficit in the current 2011 budget year would hit an all-time high of $1.5 trillion.