Making Bush Look Like a Piker (Obama v. Bush Deficits)

The American (Journal of the American Enterprise Institute) ^ | 9/20/2009 | Veronique de Rugy

[GVnana]

The Bush-era deficits were bad. I know. I spent eight years complaining about the president’s lack of fiscal responsibly (here and here for instance). I even wrote that Republicans during Bush’s time in office made French socialists look like Reagan. However, President Obama's new projected deficits are truly frightening. And the worse part: we haven’t seen it all yet.

Based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, the following chart shows a projection of deficit numbers for each year until fiscal 2018. Each color represents the difference between the projected deficits at different points in time. The purple bars represent the deficit numbers as they were projected back in September 2008; the black and red bars represent the difference between the projected deficits at other points in time. The black bars represent the growth in the projected deficit numbers between September 2008 and January 2009. The red bars represent the difference between the January 2009 projections and the new deficit numbers as projected in August 2009. Finally, the orange bars represent the actual deficit numbers during President Clinton’s last year in office (fiscal 2001) and President Bush’s two terms.

[GVnana]

the deficit will likely continue to deteriorate beyond the current projections.

[avacado]

The last Republican Congress budget was fiscal 2007 which only had a $160 billion dollar deficit. And the trend was decreasing.

[liberty_lvr]

An important point you make.

While the President may influence Congressional agendas and the eventual outcome of pending legislation, it is Congress that collects and spends the money.

Clean out that rats nest in Congress, install some fiscal responsibility, and we'll get a two-fer:

1. Obama's head will explode.

2. Those bars will reverse.

Need proof? The Serial Rapist had to deal with Newt and the Contract With America - hence the ACTUAL surplus in 2001. Now I know what you're going to say, he did it by slashing the military budget, it was just a projection of revenues yet to be collected based on the dot-com bubble, etc. But it was a trend in the right direction and it happened because the American people swept out the old Congress and demanded fiscal responsibility from the new.

[griswold3]

Heard on the radio from a forensic accountant that in 5 years using acutuarial data taking into account the working population with their earning potential minus their cost of living, the rest will only pay the INTEREST on the deficit.
Which the IMF says will increase by 84% in 5 years if the US continues the trend to aggregate demand with stimulus.

in other words, we’re screwed!

[avacado]

I agree!

[nomad]

But both parties are so power hungry and corrupt that neither will relinquish their death grip on freedom.

[lonestar67]

this chart shows that Bush was actually quite positive on the overall budget process.

The general strategy of growing the economy past the limited growth in the federal budget was working UNTIL . . .

2007

When the democrats took control in January 2007, the Bush trend toward a balanced budget was reversed.

Even on TARP Bush spent only half of the funds before refusing to go further. Moreover he required all funds to be paid back. He required that they go to specified entities. A high percentage of those funds have been paid back and/or declined by banks unwilling to accept the strings.

None of these criteria are true in the secondary TARP proposed and adopted by Obama and the now amplified democratic congress.

In 2004, MOVEON.ORG chose as their top political ad one that argued that a re-elected Bush might lead to a trillion dollar deficit. Presently, we are on our way to roughly ten times that amount by the end of Obama’s term. It is outrageous to pretend that Obama and Bush are the same on fiscal matters. There was strong sanity to Bush’s budget strategy especially when paired with the Clinton/911 recession and the need to restore our military power.

[AFPhys]

Note WELL:

These guesses do NOT include ANY increase in deficits should CAP’N’TAX or ObamaCare pass the Congress. Each of them will add very significantly to deficits. Of course, everyone responsible for getting them passed now will blame the future congresses for the deficits due to the way they ‘irresponsibly expanded the program’...

BS.