What Caused the Budget Deficit? (take a look at this pie chart)

[kpete]

What Caused the Budget Deficit?

David Leonhardt has a nice article breaking down the sources of the growth in the budget deficit. Since Leonhardt works for The New York Times rather than USA Today, they didn’t see fit to illustrate his article with a pie chart, but I made one myself:



In other words, the very high deficits are not Obama’s fault according to any normal way of assessing political blame. That said, large deficits aren’t a moral failing that we need to hold someone accountable for. Rather, they’re a potential future practical problem that will have to be solved. Doing that will probably require a mixture of higher taxes, somewhat more hard-core health care reform that is likely to pass in 2009, and reductions in defense and possibly Social Security outlays. I don’t really find it especially surprising or alarming that nobody wants to vote for any of those things in 2009. After all, nobody who has to stand for election really wants to do any of that stuff. And the deficit isn’t a problem in 2009 and almost certainly won’t be in 2010. The main issue is whether Congress will be prepared to take tough measures when and if doing so actually proves necessary. Meanwhile, the health reforms being debated in congress will get us some of the way to where we need to be, and also hopefully lay the groundwork for further measures if the best hopes about what’s currently on the table don’t wind up materializing. The simple fact of the matter, after all, is that nobody really knows what the impact of something like comparative effectiveness research will be. It could save a lot of money, or it might not—we might just get healthier while spending a similar amount of money. But if we get it in place sooner rather than later, we’ll know and be in a position to act.

more:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/06/what-caused-the-budget-deficit.php

[sakabatou]

1. We were right.

Bush fucked America over.

[damntexdem]

2. Mmmm, pie! Ewwww, Bush flavor!

Yeah, we were screwed by Dubya. Now, what can we do about it? What will spineless Dem pols do about it?

[ThomCat]

6. And we're still being screwed by Obama.

This chart is misleading. Continuation of Bush Policies means stuff Obama is responsible for now, and Obama has already contributed more than triple the amount to the national deficit that Bush did in his entire 8 years. :(

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Bu**sh** flavor = cow pie. nt

[redqueen]

3. "whether Congress will be prepared to take tough measures"

Not the most hope-inspiring comment.

[ItNerd4life]

4. Please give the full picture, not a partial one

This says contributions to Deficits. But under Bush it was $450 billion, under Obama it's $1.7 Trillion.

This graph does nothing to explain this. The income and spending over the last 4 years and the projected income/spending this year
of the federal government would give an accurate picture of what the cause is.

[kpete]

7. this has more info

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5817882&mesg_id=5817882

[ThomCat]

5. Once obvious question that jumps out from this is

why is the Obama administration extending so many of Bush's policies?

We couldn't afford his policies when he was president. We certainly can't afford to keep them now that he's gone.

[Mari333]

9. yes, and both occupations are a HUGE part of it

the bulk of it, I imagine.

[Winterblues]

8. "Reagan Proved Deficits don't matter"

What this calls for is more "Tax Cuts"

[Mari333]

10. deflation here we come!!

get your wheelbarrows ready to carry your money to the store...for a loaf of bread.