By MSN Money staff and wire reports

The federal budget deficit tripled to a record $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2009, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

The unprecedented flood of red ink flowed from several sources, including a big drop in tax revenue because of the recession, $245 billion in emergency spending on the Wall Street bailout and the takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In addition, there was almost $200 billion in costs from President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill, as well as increases in programs such as unemployment benefits and food stamps.

The fiscal year ended Sept. 30. The previous record deficit -- $459 billion -- was set just a year ago.

For more on the budget office's report, watch the video at left. For some perspective on just how big a trillion of anything is, read on.

Total U.S. currency currently in circulation is just more than $900 billion.

To help grasp the concept of trillions, mathematician and author John Allen Paulos puts it this way: "A million seconds is about 11 1/2 days. A billion seconds is about 32 years, and a trillion seconds is 32,000 years."

A stack of $1,000 bills 4.3 inches high would make you a millionaire. A stack of $1,000 bills 358 feet high would make you a billionaire. If you were a trillionaire, the stack would be 67.9 miles high.

In David M. Schwartz's children's book "Millions to Measure," Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician and his young friends calculate that a million children on each other's shoulders would reach into space; a billion of them could reach the moon. A trillion of them could nearly touch the rings of Saturn.