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Doing the math on Obama's deficits

Ezra Klein, Washington Post reporter,

Quote:

Doing the math on Obama's deficits

... snip ...

When Obama took office, the national debt was about $10.5 trillion. Today, it’s about $15.2 trillion. Simple subtraction gets you the answer preferred by most of Obama’s opponents: $4.7 trillion.

But ask yourself: Which of Obama’s policies added $4.7 trillion to the debt? The stimulus? That was just a bit more than $800 billion. TARP? That passed under George W. Bush, and most of it has been repaid.

There is a way to tally the effects Obama has had on the deficit.

.... snip.

More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...7fQ_story.html

It's the gift that just keeps on giving

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis (Post 836101)

It's the gift that just keeps on giving

Attachment 1908

:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by dellinger63 (Post 836094)

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...s-graphic.html

broken link...

Maybe this will help

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When President Obama took office two years ago, the national debt stood at $10.626 trillion. It now stands at $14.071 trillion — a staggering increase of $3.445 trillion in just 735 days (about $5 billion a day).

To put that into perspective, when President George W. Bush took office, our national debt was $5.768 trillion. By the time Bush left office, it had nearly doubled, to $10.626 trillion. So Bush's record on deficit spending was not good at all: During his presidency, the national debt rose by an average of $607 billion a year. How does that compare to Obama? During Obama's presidency to date, the national debt has risen by an average of $1.723 trillion a year — or by a jaw-dropping $1.116 trillion more, per year, than it rose even under Bush.
How do Bush and Obama compare on closer inspection? Just about like they do on an initial glance. According to the White House's Office of Management and Budget, during his eight fiscal years, Bush ran up a total of $3.283 trillion in deficit spending (p. 22). In his first two fiscal years, Obama will run up a total of $2.826 trillion in deficit spending ($1.294 trillion in 2010, an estimated $1.267 trillion in 2011 (p. 23), and the $265 billion in "stimulus" money that was spent in 2009). Thus, Bush ran up an average of $410 billion in deficit spending per year, while Obama is running up an average of $1.413 trillion in deficit spending per year — or $1.003 trillion a year more than Bush.
Obama, of course, has said the economy made him do it. But the average inflation-adjusted deficits through Obama's first two fiscal years will be more than ten times higher than the average inflation-adjusted deficit during the Great Depression. Even as a percentage of the gross domestic product, the average deficits in Obama's first two fiscal years will more than three times higher the average deficit during the Great Depression. The fact that Obama's deficits have, by any standard, more than tripled those of the Great Depression, cannot convincingly be blamed on the current recession.
And none of this even takes into account Obamacare, which the Congressional Budget Office says would increase spending by more than $2 trillion in its real first decade (2014 to 2023) — and which, even under very rosy projections, the CBO says would increase the national debt by $341 billion by the end of 2019.
It's not often that one gets to hear a call for "responsible" fiscal stewardship from someone whose deficit spending is outpacing President Bush's by more than $1 trillion a year — yet that's apparently what we'll get to hear tonight. But President Obama's actions tell another, far clearer, story about his commitment to deficit reduction.

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/25/133211...s-bush-on-debt

Quote:

Originally Posted by dellinger63 (Post 836162)

Maybe this will help

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/25/133211...s-bush-on-debt

That link is over a year old. Ezra uses both current data (taking into account the Obamacares projections), and more complete data including detailed government projections and programs not included in the above (as explained in the article)

Much of our current massive increase in deficit is the ongoing costs of the unpaid massively expensive Bush policies, the ongoing cost of which did not end the day he left office (the wars, the tax cuts).

There is simply no way around the truth, and no way to ignore that. Denying it is an absurd and purposeful disregard of the facts. Blaming it on Obama is simply a superficial political move.

Notice the second most expensive thing Obama has done is extend the Bush tax cuts for two years.

It should be mentioned that both Romney and Gingrich have publicized their financial plans, with planned tax cuts to the wealthy,and tax increase for the poor, that will massively increase our deficit. Gingrich will totally eliminate capital gains taxes, making Romney's tax bill zero.