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How We Wound Up With a $1.2T Deficit

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 10, 2009 9:24 AM CDT

(Newser) – President Obama’s agenda plays a very small role in the massive deficits facing the country, but it won't do anything to correct them, wither the New York Times reports. After reviewing a decade’s worth of Congressional Budget Office reports, the paper explains how the government turned a $800 billion surplus into a $1.2 trillion deficit:

The recessions of 2001 and today are responsible for 37% of the swing, thanks to decreased tax revenue and increased safety-net spending.
George W. Bush’s policies, including his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, account for 33%.
By extending some of those policies, like the Iraq war and selected tax cuts, Obama has contributed another 20%.
Roughly 7% comes from Obama’s stimulus, and just 3% from his overall agenda on health care, education, and energy.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

President Barack Obama walks past a portrait of President George H. W. Bush as he arrives to speak about General Motors and the auto industry, June 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President George W. Bush, leave the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 16, 2009, for Camp David, Md. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The national debt is shown on the Debt Clock in New York, Oct. 9, 2008. The clock has run out of digits to record the growing figure. The dollar sign has been switched to show the "1" in $10 trillion. (AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews)

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Bush behaved incredibly irresponsibly for eight years. On the one hand, it might seem unfair for people to blame Obama for not fixing it. On the other hand, he’s not fixing it. - Alan Auerbach, UC Berkley economist and deficit expert

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 18 comments

lindamae

Jun 11, 2009 8:41 AM CDT

It seems to be okay for those who defend Obama's spending - the Omnibus Pork bill for example- so that we will borrow 46 cents out of every dollar we spend - and our babies will be picking up the tab. I can't believe it. Anyone who reviewed the Omnibus bill should be in arms over the stupid - and I use the word in its true meaning - projects

newsrmandan

Jun 10, 2009 6:42 AM CDT

Nwambe... so is the answer to our dept problems hinging on the confidence of international investors. And their faith in the US as a world leader in productivity and innovation? So the question of confidence has to be addressed by the world community seeing the US working. The US works when it has something to work for when it is striving to attain something unreached up to now. Your Credit card analogy works when the problem is that the person getting credit is wasting it on pleasure and lavishness as opposed to really doing something worthwhile with it. there is a huge diff. in the using credit to buy shoes as to using it to develop the next big thing. Obama wants the next big thing to be the green revolution and where that may have some merit I think its short sited a little. My only other thought regarding the international communities confidence in the U.S. is where else are they going to go to get equal confidence for a return on their money? I don't know.

Mr.C

Jun 10, 2009 6:31 AM CDT

It is not just Iraq, it is now Afghanistan, which Obama is taking on as his own initiative.

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Bush administration • Barack Obama • national debt • budget deficit • balanced budget • George W. Bush • Obama administration • budget crisis

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