The following table displays Congressional Budget Office forecasts of federal budget balances for the following fiscal years. Compare these forecasts with actual surplus and deficits for those same years (see Table 12.3 for data).

(a) In how many years was the CBO too optimistic (underestimating the deficit or overestimating the surplus)? 

(b) In how many years was the CBO too pessimistic?

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2000 2001 2002 | 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Year Deficit forecast +161 +268 | +176 | -315 |-480 -348 -314-285 -155-438 (in billions of dollars)