I pray they do not. A Federal deficit is a difference between the dollars spent into the economy by the Govt less the dollars removed by federal taxation in a given year. Typically, the Govt leaves more dollars in the economy that it removes. On a balance sheet, as the issuer of the dollar, the Govt is in "deficit." But, the dollars left in the economy become the "surplus," or profit, of the economy. IOW, if $100 is spent into the economy in a year and taxes out $70, the $30 is being saved somewhere in the economy. A Federal balanced budget would mean that $100 dollars were spent into the economy and at the end of the year, $100 was taxed out. That leaves $0 dollars for the use of those in the economy. That's why the guy with the empty wallet in the meme is crying. BTW, in the US, 7 times the Federal Govt has been in surplus or balanced in its history. Each of those times was shortly followed by a great recession and depression. The economy runs on dollars, and cannot sustain itself without them.