The Fiscal Legacy of George W. Bush
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Bruce Bartlett
held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush
administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp
and Ron Paul. He is the author of “The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform – Why We Need It and What It Will Take.”
Excerpts:
Republicans assert that Barack Obama assumed sole responsibility for
the budget on Jan. 20, 2009. From that date, all increases in the debt
or deficit are his responsibility and no one else’s, they say.
This is, of course, nonsense – and the American people know it. As I documented in a previous post,
even today 43 percent of them hold George W. Bush responsible for the
current budget deficit versus only 14 percent who blame Mr. Obama.
The American people are right; Mr. Bush is more responsible, as a new report from the Congressional Budget Office documents.
In
January 2001, the office projected that the federal government would
run a total budget surplus of $3.5 trillion through 2008 if policy was
unchanged and the economy continued according to forecast. In fact,
there was a deficit of $5.5 trillion.
The projected surplus was
primarily the result of two factors. First was a big tax increase in
1993 that every Republican in Congress voted against, saying that it
would tank the economy. This belief was wrong. The economy boomed in
1994, growing 4.1 percent that year and strongly throughout the Clinton
administration.
that emerged in 1998 was tough budget controls that were part of the
1990 and 1993 budget deals. The main one was a requirement that spending
could not be increased or taxes cut unless offset by spending cuts or
tax increases. This was known as Paygo, for pay as you go.
During the 2000 campaign, Mr. Bush warned that budget surpluses were
dangerous because Congress might spend them, even though Paygo rules
prevented this from happening. ...
Putting all the numbers in the C.B.O. report together, we see that
continuation of tax and budget policies and economic conditions in place
at the end of the Clinton administration would have led to a cumulative
budget surplus of $5.6 trillion through 2011 – enough to pay off the
$5.6 trillion national debt at the end of 2000.
Tax cuts and
slower-than-expected growth reduced revenues by $6.1 trillion and
spending was $5.6 trillion higher, a turnaround of $11.7 trillion. Of
this total, the C.B.O. attributes 72 percent to legislated tax cuts and
spending increases, 27 percent to economic and technical factors. Of the
latter, 56 percent occurred from 2009 to 2011. ...
Republicans continue to insist that tax cuts are highly stimulative, often saying that they add nothing to the debt, when this is obviously ridiculous.
Conversely, they are adamant that tax increases must not be part of any deficit-reduction package because they never reduce deficits
and instead are spent. This is also ridiculous, as the experience of
the Clinton administration clearly shows. The new C.B.O. data confirm
these facts.
Read More: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/the-f...
-Peace
Again you spew ignorant misinformation:
You ignorance about the credit downgrade (by one rating agency) surpasses your ignorance about the the GDP to debt ratio...
We received a credit downgrade under owebama and had he taken his own commissions suggestions that would have been avoided. No way to spin that Wanker.
Now that we have that cleared up, care to comment on the points I raised?
How does doubling down improve anything? Why did barack completely ignore his own Simpson-Bolles debt commission suggestions? When will his promise to cut the deficit in half come to fruition? How many more times will he ask to raise the debt limit?
So how do you feel about 0bama covering for Eric Witholder? They have a lot of explaining to do. Does look good.
Then we have the media that is the hands of 7 to 8 corporations that we cant even get straight reporting, we have no serious journalism anymore. Example of this can be seen by anyone who does a google search and see that we dont get public good interviews but fluff pieces.
Then our law enforcement is so out of control that as a country we lock up more people than most countries, for offenses that harms no one but the individual, but let a banker robe the American people and we call that capitalism and more times then not the offender is let off with slap on the hand and maybe a fine. But the fine is nothing compared to theft the bankers engaged in.
The faith community does not do what it should be doing instead,another broken trust. It is all about hate this person because they believe this, or because they are that, nothing about the true doctrines of the religion, like taking care of one another its all about damnation and hell fire if all of us dont submit to one of the three monolithic rel...
Then we have the media that is the hands of 7 to 8 corporations that we cant even get straight reporting, we have no serious journalism anymore. Example of this can be seen by anyone who does a google search and see that we dont get public good interviews but fluff pieces.
Then our law enforcement is so out of control that as a country we lock up more people than most countries, for offenses that harms no one but the individual, but let a banker robe the American people and we call that capitalism and more times then not the offender is let off with slap on the hand and maybe a fine. But the fine is nothing compared to theft the bankers engaged in.
The faith community does not do what it should be doing instead,another broken trust. It is all about hate this person because they believe this, or because they are that, nothing about the true doctrines of the religion, like taking care of one another its all about damnation and hell fire if all of us dont submit to one of the three monolithic religions in our country.
While this story exactly correct, it will fall on death ears, until we have serious journalism, and a educated electorate, along with a congress that we can trust they will do what is right for all Americans not just a select few. In short we must bring back faith in all our public institutions, that all of us need to make life a little bit more bearable.
“At a 1971 dinner, Reagan told California legislator James Mills that ‘everything is in place for the battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ.’ The President has permitted Jerry Falwell to attend National Security Council briefings and author and Armageddon-advocate Hal Lindsey to give a talk on nuclear war with Russia to top Pentagon strategists.” “Grace Halsell’s Prophecy and Politics: Militant Evangelists on the Road to Nuclear War,” by E. Johnson in Journal of Historical Review (Winter 1986).
When you ask them why, they say, "well it's so much money now." As if 2 or 3 trillion is nothing.
they are only up in arms now because they have been told to be up in arms.
Try harder.
I can only hope the Voters are more intelligent than that.