By mid-October, the United States revealed that its 2009 budget gap had jumped to $1.42 trillion, giving us the deepest recession since the 1930s — crippling tax revenue — even as the administration increases spending in an attempt to rescue the economy.

The shortfall for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 was more than triple the $455 billion record set a year earlier, the Treasury Department said Oct. 16.

Even Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has been wrong and failed in so many past jobs, echoed the analysis of more objective economists around the world, cautioning that a lack of confidence that the U.S. will return to fiscal sustainability may lead to a weaker economic recovery, higher interest rates and constrained investment.

“That’s why deficits matter. That’s why deficits in the end can be very damaging to growth,” he said. “That’s why you cannot live with future deficits as large as ours are likely to be.”

Geithner also said, “Americans understand that we have to go back to living within our means as a country. When we have an economy that’s growing again and we get unemployment down, we’re going to have to bring those deficits down.”

Tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration should not be allowed to expire next year because, as Geithner said, “it does not make sense to raise taxes in a recession” and that “getting growth on track led by the private sector is still our most important priority.”

To save Geithner & Crew time, we might simplify all of this by stating the obvious: not only do individuals need to live within their means, so does government, starting with Washington.

The government needs to stop pandering with its free-spending ways and, instead, cut costs to the bone. Also, it should increase revenue by cutting taxes to spur private-sector growth.