The government will shut down…the government won’t shut down…Compromise! Finally, the Federal government has came to a compromise to reduce our swelling national debt. Or have they? The chart below shows that cutting the deficit has a lot about rhetoric and little about substance. Congress did save $78.5 billion in their latest agreement. Since the original budget deficit for fiscal year 2011 was $1.6 trillion, however, the negotiated savings only amounted to 5% of the deficit. Lots of rhetoric; little action.