The government plans on spending more money than it receives this year, a total of 244 billion dollars. This is a planned loss.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/summarytables.html
The government has had a deficit since 2002. It has also has a deficit between 1970 and 1977,1961-1968, 1958-1959, 19 52-1955, 1950, 1931-1946.
For the rest, look here http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy06/pdf/hist.pdf on pages 25-30 on Adobe Reader, or pages labeled 21-26.
Federal spending rose by 47% percent between 1929 and 1932, as the Hoover Administration attempted to spend their way out of the Depression.
http://www.heritage.org/research/economy/upload/bg_2127.pdf page 2
