• henfredemars@infosec.pub
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    3 days ago

    A surging deficit sounds like a double negative. It’s a little confusing what exactly they mean by the title.

    • sleep_deprived@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 days ago

      This is the normal way to talk about changes in deficits and surpluses in English, and it’s not ambiguous, although it may look that way initially. In everyday speech, a “deficit” already means a shortfall or a negative amount. When we say a “surging deficit,” we mean the size of that shortfall is increasing. We generally treat deficits as only positive or zero (never negative), and if it flips, we call it a “surplus” instead.