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I thought I'd throw something out there for your fringe folks who get all emotional that Obama is spending too much and is the cause of all of the debt that we're seeing.
I figure the first shot that I should throw out is the 2009 budget. 2009 is the year where we had the largest budget deficit by far on record. 2010 is slightly behind, but both dwarf those that came before. The cause is split largely equally between falling tax revenues from the recession combined with increased spending in entitlement programs that become more heavily used during a recession.
You can see the budget here and the message from the President who passed the 2009 budget, George W Bush, here http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/browse.html . (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/browse.html - broken link)
I hear plenty of people claiming that spending is out of control and Obama is at fault. I thought that I'd point out that you can't pin this on Obama. First, government is not all powerful as some of you would like to think and it can't snap fingers and immediately change spending patterns. Second, nobody predicted the depth of the recession that was coming. Bush didn't realize, when the budget was made, the fiscal mess that was coming. At that point, no President could unilaterally act and stop the massive deficits from coming.
The Predicted fiscal deficit was ~$450B, it ended up being $1.4. The bulk of that was due to tax revenue falling. That accounted for $400B+. The TARP program (aka bank bailout) that was passed by George W Bush cost $250B. What Obama is on the line for is the cost of the tax cuts, spending programs, etc, in the ARRA (Obama stimulus bill) to the amount of $200B. The rest was made up basically in increases in spending in mandatory spending programs. A president can't snap fingers and just get rid of that.
In short, the huge budget deficit in 2009 was $200/$1400 or ~14% his fault.
Those who are vested in another side of the political spectrum and want to blame all of this on Obama should look in the mirror. That 1.4T deficit follows 6 years when the Republicans had control of everything and 2 years of when they had the White House.
I'm not arguing one way or another, but since this board is filled with people who are mostly emotionally tied to saying that everything conservative is 100% great and Obama is the devil, I thought I'd lay out a counterpoint.
Yes this is true..I never agreed to anything Bush did his second year in office..I still believe that he is somewhat apart of this mess like his unfunded wars. Now looking in the middle (was right side) people have really blamed Obama for the direction the country is going..I dont agree with some of his policies but at the same time blaming him for everything and the burden's debt like Sarah Palin has stated is mediocre to me..
It was Bush's budget. Please provide some actual thought or data instead of just trolling.
This thread wasn't meant to be an indictment of Bush. Just a counterpoint to the irrational emotion led blaming of Obama for everything when most of the problems he inherited.
Refresh my memory...did not senator Obama vote both for the '09 budget and for TARP? I seem to recall that he took time off from campaigning to vote on both. I could be wrong, he could have voted "present".
It was Bush's budget. Please provide some actual thought or data instead of just trolling.
This thread wasn't meant to be an indictment of Bush. Just a counterpoint to the irrational emotion led blaming of Obama for everything when most of the problems he inherited.
Nothing irrational about it. Obama is NOT a victim. It WAS Bush's budget. As a senator he was well aware of the fiscal problems of this country. He asked for the job ( Hope and change, and all that ). Instead of having his feet held to the fire, he has you and many more making excuses for him. Eighth grade math says you can't spend yourself out of a debt problem. Did he skip eighth grade?
Okay I know this is petty but dificit is spelled deficit. After all there's no excuse for ignorance.
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