$490 billion federal deficit to make a record in 2009

George H. W. Bush famously called Ronald Reagan's idea that you could cut taxes and balance the budget "voodoo economics." And his son's vice president, Dick Cheney, is also well known for reinforcing Reagan's values when he said "Reagan proved [that] deficits don't matter."

Well, now Bloomberg News reveals that the current president will leave his successor with a record Federal Budget deficit of $490 billion in fiscal 2009. Why such a big deficit? Bloomberg speculates that "dwindling tax receipts because of the U.S. economic slowdown, the cost of payments distributed under the $168 billion economic stimulus package and the continuing cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan" could all be contributing factors.

Disturbingly, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center in Washington suggests that both candidates have tax cut plans that would add to future deficits. Bloomberg reports that McCain's may cost "$4.2 trillion over 10 years and Obama's about $2.8 billion." Meanwhile, those wars the current president started cost "$10 billion to $12 billion a month." With the dollar down 72% since the current president took over, I think deficits do matter.

And the current president's legacy for his successor will determine just how much.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.