On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney continuously hammers home the gross inaccuracy that President Obama is a reckless steward of the nation’s economy. Romney repeatedly accuses the president of “runaway spending” and of “creating a prairie fire of debt.” While one in depth study shows that spending under Obama never happened, a new study reveals that Bush-era policies are primarily responsible for our burgeoning deficit.
This past Thursday, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) analysis revealed that the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Bush’s Great Recession account for virtually the entire federal budget deficit.
In the graph on the right provided courtesy of CBPP, the flat line at the bottom of the chart accounts for the US deficit absent the above-mentioned policies. As you can see, we bear the effects of Bush-era drunken-sailor spending all the way through 2019. Why? We borrowed to pay for it all, and as our ability to pay down the principal diminished and the debt increased, so did the interest rates.
So wake up America! Pay close attention because we’re dishing more than Stew here, and it stinks like hell. While Mitt Romney rakes in the secret cash and buys the ability to shift the blame to Obama, four years of him is four more years of Bush. Romney proposes more wars, ignoring the effect of war on our families, our lives and on our national economy. We need a steward who will get us a change from Bush-era policies. Let’s get it right this time. We would all be remiss to re-elect President Obama without also giving him a clean House. Like my mom used to say – you can’t cook in a dirty kitchen.
I would like to know what the CBPP is. I tried to look it up, and can’t find an organization by that name. If this chart is by the CBPP, I’d like to know who they are before I post it on Facebook.
Laura, I found their website. It is http://www.cbpp.org From what I gathered, it was developed in 1981 to give a voice to the voiceless, by that I mean the needy and those living paycheck to paycheck. Or even worse, the long-term unemployed. By all means, be responsible, and do some research of your own before passing on this information. There are many topics the GOP spin doctors are having great success with, saying that President Obama is responsible for, but really are the result of the George W. Bush administration. Unfortunately, many are being duped by this smear campaign, designed to discredit Obama, and pave they way to the White House for Romney, and paving it with lies. The people who are buying into this propaganda are not as responsible as you are. Credibility, these days, seems able to be bought. Kudos to you.
Laura, If you bothered read this article, the CBPP is cited by its full organization name in paragraph 2. Google it — their website is quite easy to find. You should find that site quite informative, as they have done lots of research and data mining to explain how different policies impact working class Americans.
Laura:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_on_Budget_and_Policy_Priorities
How quickly people forget…
Don’t know why this comes as a surprise to anyone..Bush left office with the highest debt of any President’ all wasted on wars, Obama has spent the least amount of any President in history in his first almost 4 years..The problem is that Obama haters just hate him because he has darker colored skin and it wouldn’t matter if you showed them all the figures right in front of their noses . they would still deny it…blows my mind how ignorant people can be.
I dont know why its a surprise either…. it is the thing that frustrates me the most. Obama spent his entire term blaming Bush for the state of this country.. IT IS BUSH’S CRAP OBAMA HAD TO STEP IN!!!! How hard is that to see??? Anybody with half a brain would know this. But us stupid Liberals… lol. And don’t forget it isn’t just his haters that hate his skin, they hate he is Muslim. Oh my Lord. They believe this crap. Still ask for his birth certificate. I seriously cannot stand much more ignorance. If these people do not wise up and see whats going on (instead of what they learn on facebook and the tv commercials, and I know plenty like that. hate Obama, but have no clue why… and allI can come up with is just that. He is Black and Muslim and oh…. hates America) But if they do not wake up and look at truly whats going on, the good he has done, the mess he inherited that will take years to get out of, that he is very smart and not stupid like they think. That he has to fight like hell for everything he wants to do. They ignore it all. They had rather put Sarah Palin in than him. I will never understand. They need to look at the lying, arrogant crook they are wanting to put in. Ive never seen a more sleazy man in my life. One who can eff up a trip to the freaking Olympics where he was called out by the Mayor and the Prime Minister. His work experience. Oh Lord. they need to look at that work record. things he is hiding. Why doesnt that bother people??? Thank for this article. I would love to use it to prove something, but it wont do any good.
I know what you mean, old battle ax. Some of my friends from TX regale me with stories about their neighbors. One neighbor complains that “as long as my food stamps don’t come too late, I’m all right.” Then in the next breath complains about “N—ers always looking for a handout and they’re voting for Obama so they can get free stuff, that’s why Romney’s my guy”. SMH. Those food stamps will be cut if Romney’s in power.
Like old battle axe, I’m discouraged that this even required a study. It should be obvious.
Yes…..but even if it is true…..why do we arbitrarily choose a date when all life (and actions of a given society) begin……and act as if there was nothing going on before then?
MY POINT? What conditions, situations, and actions happened before Bush was president that lead to attacks from AQ, the mortgage collapse, etc ad infinitum…..and not only what did (and didn’t) GW BUSH have to do with them, and where and when it wasn’t GW BUSH, then who was it?
Ya see…..GW Bush wasn’t barely even Governor of Texas for that long before he became president, and then within the first year pretty much everything happened all at once!
And then….GW reacted to those things…….
Which then begs the question…..how much could GW Bush have NOT DONE? They fly some planes into buildings and the whole country shuts down, starts screaming for a response, starts screaming for increased security measures, etc etc etc…..and nobody is spending money…..especially when anthrax hits the mail…..the mortgage crisis comes to full fruition….etc etc etc……WAR?……Well….something had to be done…and WAR is just like a Stimulus program….puts more money into more people’s hands……tax cuts?…….Well….the economy was completely stalled back then…..
AND GUESS WHO WAS AT THE HELM WHEN HIS FED CHIEF….WITH HIS BLESSING….obliterated Glass Steagle and Bank Holding acts (post depression policies to prevent things such as mortgage crisis and financial institution vulnerability)…..approved the Finance Modernization Act…..increased the percentages of non-Banking business banks could engage in….approved massive mergers of financial institutions…..etc etc…..it was the same guy who was at the helm when major accounting anomalies and corporate malfeasance took out many corporations (Enron-Worldcomm-etc)……and not only did this effect the Bush era economy….but so did the dot.com bubble bursting……(and most people say ‘THIS’ president was a financial genius who was economically sound)……and remember…..during a major part of Bush’s second term…..the other two houses of government had a Democrat majority……many of whom were directly involved with financial institutions and/or receiving major campaign support (of not loans)…..had major mortgage and financial companies in their home states….and shot down the notion that something needed to be done about the impending mortgage crisis…..shot down the notion that a second oversight organization (possibly independant) needed to be put over Fannie and Freddie….etc….
Oh…..If anybody wanted to be really honest and accurate…..we could say a lot of people have been creating the situations and conditions that lead to what happened immediately after GW BUSH took office….and HE inherited the mess of others as much as Obama has……
And that’s not even going into the fact that Obama himself….has said on numerous occasions….that he (and government) really doesn’t have that much influence on the economy…..like immediately after he got into office and budgets and stimulus spending came up and he said (paraphrased) that ‘it probably won’t do anything but we gotta try’…..and when Matt Lauer jumped on him for the economy and he said (paraphrased) ‘I don’t have much influence on it but I’ll get blamed because I’m president’………well….why is he blaming BUSH? And Why isn’t he really blaming previous presidents….including Democrat ones….for what they did that Bush had to deal with?
Is it because he’s stoopid…..or is it because he’s trying to win majority votes in a popularity contest?
You should know the answer to that one! Politicians plead with the public for votes to win elections!
And guess what…..that’s a big influence on their policy as well…..they wanna win votes….get re-elected….etc!
Guess what happens? The utilitarian principle that says ‘most good for the most’ rules over everything in the democratic process…..even trumps the other two ethical principals of morallity and justice…..because if you elect somebody who ran under a banner and list of actions while in office….it’s as if that makes it alright….
AND BOTH SIDES DO IT…..and THINGS END UP TILTING THIS WAY AND THAT……and no matter which way there are consequences….costs….sacrifices…….liberal and conservative policy has costs, consequences, sacrifices…..there is no free lunch!
And often this blind worship of utilitarian ethics violates morallity and justice…..no matter whether it’s swinging left or right!
Wow! This is the worst compiled info ever assembled. Just another liberal spin machine trying to blame someone beyond this inexperienced boy with the huge chip on his shoulder. There is so much more to economics than the pretty colors. Fannie/Freddit spurred the huge “economic downturn” from Clinton and Frank due to it’s incredibly reckless legislation that created the bubble. Obama has put us in over 8 different battle grounds internationally that we have fought or are still fighting and ratched up the debt. Much of his “shovel ready jobs” spending went to now bankrupt and insolvent companies that never made a dent in our energy problems, while dismantling the energy we do rely on. Still more of it went to China and Brazil. The only jobs created have been in government, who prints, but does not make anything valuable….Sucking what resources we have into still more unsustainable government employee costs with cadillac benefits. AND, Obama is recommending we extend the Bush taxes so the bottom doesn’t completely fall out before he limps into the election. Nice try, but it doesn’t hold water.
Using your initials? DS, you are a coward. Or maybe your real initials are BS? And who are you calling a “boy”? Go spew your racist venom elsewhere.
Now, concerning your claims about President Obama’s policies — back them up with references and links or stand down. What independent agencies produced such data on the president, such as you are claiming?
Karen….
The reasonably, rationally expected outcomes of Obama’s policies have been documented across the entire face of this continent, throughout human history, by millions of knowledgable experts who have spent the entirety of their careers finitelyn focused on same and relevant disciplines, issues, and situations. In fact they are also, not surprisingly, known and documented to have been and be constant points of discussion, debate, and concern in halls of government. And it’s why in our present worldwide situation, many governments of advanced nations, are leaning more towards conservative policy, reducing debt, pegging government spending to fixed amounts or percentages, reducions social welfare costs, etc etc etc.
Ya see, it would be easy to say we can spend this and that and do this and that, if we lived on a metaphorical flat earth with only one thing to have to think about and consider. But….the butterfly flapping it’s wings that causes a typhoon a thousand miles away ver much applies in many things, especially in government policy (no matter which way it goes, liberal versus conservative for example).
Simplistic example…..people think that if they tax a sector of the economy or society more, there will be more money, we can pay for more stuff, and nothing else will happen.
WRONG! Lots of things happen, lots of things have always happened, they’ve been observed and cdocument to happen almost every single time everywhere on this planet any time taxes have been raised on specific sectors by thousands of knowledgable experts who have spent the entirety of tehir careers finitely focused on such things!
Ya see….the thing is…..life in this big old world and in many advanced societies is extremely complex and diverse…..and when it comes to money (or shifting or changing where money goes in a society)……many things are affected….including the emoto-psycho-cognito heads of humans….which affects what they are going to do….which affects everything else….like the butterflies wings….
Like….why are fertility rates for certain classes or ethnicities of people within a society dropping? Taxation is known inarguably to have a lot to do with that! Raise taxes, people who are paying more or high taxes, stop having children and focus on careers! Then you end up with major demographics problems, such as the generation of people who are going into retirement and who will be increasingly tapping social welfare programs are much larger than the section of the population who will be working and paying taxes to support those programs!
So you increase taxes…right? Well….currently and from now on undeveloped nations have unimitable advantages in economic competition….and increasing populations….and they are going to start claiming more and more and more of the global marketshare and the world’s riches and resources!
What’s this do to competive abilities of other societies who have high tax rates, high social welfare costs, demographic disasters looming (America is a nation who’s baby boomer population is much larger than the generations of people coming up to pay taxes to not only support them but also pay in increasing amount of taxes for an e ver expanding list of government costs including health care under Obama’s plan)…..
How can corporations, businesses, and people pay even more taxes than they already are, especially when government is increasing costs, and other nations with competitive advantages and growing populations are claiming more and more global marketshare and the world’s riches and resources for themselves?
Ya see….not every business and corporation works in a perfect environment or situation….some are doing great and always will….the elasticity or inelasticity of their services or goods has influence on this….but some are in highly competitive environments…..some just barely hanging on…..and the inflow of foriegn goods and services has a huge amount of influence on the level of income they can generate or their survivability in many cases….so when foriegn nations increasingly gain competitive advantages….especially when America’s government increases the costs of being in business or restrains them with policy that often also increases costs of doing business….well…..what happens next? I mean…does everybody really believe that every business and corporation in America is doing great ganbusters of business….as much as they desire…..and any measures they take to reduce costs is purely to line their own pockets?…..Or do some people realize that it depends on the business….the corporation….they conditions they are in…..what government does that affects them and their environment? Why do companies outsource? Lots of potential reasons! Sometimes it’s simply to make mreo money….sometimes it is a necessity to keep the doors open and people employed!
Oh….so we just tighten up our ports and don’t let goods in?……Geee……what happens after that? How many peoples’ jobs in America are directly or indirectly due to outsourcing and iimporting in goods? Who works with foriegn firms to produce goods? Who ships them in? Who unloads them at docks? Who sells them once they get here?
And what do we gain by engaging in exporting-importing? Allies in world affairs? Interdependancies with nations that make them more cooperational? What about them allowing us to have access to their resources and services and goods and selling ours to them?
Will they stop interacting with everybody else, including our competitors, if we stop interacting with them? NOPE! Does this give our competitors an increased advantage over us? Yep!
Not so simple…..and I’ve only begung to scratch the surface!
So the next time some politician says……I’m going to do this and just like waving my Harry Potter Magic Wand….POOF…..this is going to happen…….people better look behind the smoke and mirrors and see what else is going to happen!
Because there is no perfect environment where there aint alot of other things going on…..and there is no free lunch!
And this aint really the right conditions for liberal policy and increasing social welfare costs…..not in this global economic situation…..not with many things currently and about to go down in this society…..and guess what……our competitors know it…..and many of them are switching gears and changing…..ya know what’s been happening in EU nations lately? What’s been mandated as policy? Complete opposite of how things have recently been going in American government!
Cause they’re gearing up for what’s going on and coming down the road! They’re doing what needs to be done!
In this big old mixing pot of a highly individualistic society we call America? Politicians are dividing up voters into little camps against each other to get votes and win the game! Villanizing opposing sectors and segments and setting everybody against each other!
Cause that’s how they win….and it’s possible to do that in the unique stew of American society….in the situation America finds itself in….
Not so much in many other nations….especially highly collective nations….with more attachment to their shared history and in certain surroundings….
America better wake up or it will deserve what it gets…..as it always has before!
Can’t we just say it out loud: The collapse was allowed in Bush’s term. It was aggravated in Obama’s. The same foxes are in the hen house now that were there before.
The war in Afghganistan anistan was started to build an oil pipeline. Bush told the Taliban if they did not agree to let them build the pipeline they would bomb them back to the stone age! That was two months before 911.
The article states that it is “one in depth study” and it’s by The Center on Budget & Policy Priorities which of course is a socially liberal think tank. Of course it’s gonna have a liberal slant, I would expect no less. Regardless of your party affiliation you can generally alway’s find “facts” to support your position ???