«
»

But, but, but Obama ….

Hey, I gotta tell ya. I was one of those people egging Bush on. I wouldn’t tolerate any discussion of deficits or budgets of taxes during the ramp-up to Afghanistan and Iraq. I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. But I grew sick of the war. Questions remained. Then Obama took over, and suddenly, deficits were important again!  Oh, Good heavens! That angry Negro with an Arab sounding name was in charge! He had to be a foreigner.

So congratulations, Tea Party. You converted me.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.



One Response to “But, but, but Obama ….”

  1.   David P. Jordan Says:
    February 4th, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    $5.6 trillion surplus? What is this idiot snorting? Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other conservatives beat up Bush for his spending and support for new gov’t programs (S-SHIP, TSA, etc.).

    So here’s the truth: The national debt rose $281 billion during those supposed Clinton-era (and GOP-controlled Congress) “surpluses,” in 1997-2000 due to creative budgeting involving inter-governmental holdings. And Clinton’s last budget posted a substantial deficit (due to the mild recession that Bush inherited).

    Yes…Bush also inherited a recession. Then came 9-11. The Iraq War. SARS. Then the economy boomed in 2004-2007, during which deficits actually declined despite far higher spending levels.

    The last Bush deficit (fiscal year 2009) would have totaled $800 billion, $200 billion of which was TARP money that won’t be repaid ($500 billion would be over the next few years). Obama voted for TARP, so he can share that $200 billion. The other $600 billion was from increased deficits due to spending levels and recession-induced declining revenues. Keep in mind the Dems won control of Congress in 2006, and Congress controls the gov’t's purse strings.

    Obama then ADDED more spending via his stimulus package. As the recession deepened under the new president’s watch, revenue declined further. This increased the 2009 deficit to $1.4 trillion. More irresponsible spending for fiscal 2010 increased the deficit of $1.6 trillion. In 2011, this number declined slightly to $1.3 trillion, probably due in part to increased revenues (thanks to extension of the Bush tax cuts).