20 Tea Party radicals claim that they have a right to shut down our entire government because of an out of control president who does not listen to "The People" (meaning the couple thousand white folks they represent in their little gerrymandered district of Texas or Kansas). The president, they allege, has contributed to runaway spending, deficits, and debts. He must be stopped and since the Constitutional, legal approach has not worked, they must act outside the law. After all, as at least one of these tea people said repeatedly, "We are right." Actually, they are as wrong as rain.
9%. Remember that number - it's the percentage of the increase in debt since 2001 that can be attributed to President Obama's single round of 2010 stimulus spending (if you blinked and missed it, you can be forgiven; the GOP seems under the impression the clock stopped (and started) in 2010).
91%. Remember that number also - it's the percentage of the increase in debt that has nothing to do with President Obama and everything to do with policies or events that were launched by President Bush.
Breaking it down by president and percentage:
34% simply results from the Bush Recession and economic collapse (leading to a collapse in tax collection - bankrupt households and businesses don't pay tax);
16% stems from the Bush tax cuts (which led to 14% higher interest on the debt).
War and defense spending added another 29%.
Legacy costs of the war, including increased VA and Medicare (veterans have and use Medicare and injured ones more) spending from the Bush wars (all those brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder cases have to be treated, no matter how much the Tea Party would love to figure out a way not to spend taxpayer money doing so) are not even included in these figures, which would make the relative Obama contribution smaller still than 9%.
2001-2011 Debt Increase:
% inc $T* Item
34% 3.5 Bush recession -> lower tax revenues
16% 1.6 Bush tax cuts
15% 1.5 Bush defense spending increases
14% 1.4 Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
14% 1.4 interest from higher debt (marginal)
9% 0.9 Obama stimulus spending
10.3 Total *trillions of dollars
By the way, these numbers are not from some left wing think tank but from the CBO, THE final referee and authority on budget squabbles. In the interest of full disclosure, I also used a calculator and a sharpened pencil.
So the GOP 91% of the debt we are now facing and for which the Republicans are trying to make President Obama grovel before authorizing more borrowing. Only 9% of the debt comes directly from his stimulus plan which, when you think about it, was only necessary because of the Bush Recession!
Making President Obama beg before granting him the right to operate a government deeply in debt from failed Republican policies is sort of like making your neighbor mow your lawn before you will "let" him mail your mortgage payment for you.
Sources: "National Debt of the United States", CBO changes in 2001 Projections
9%. Remember that number - it's the percentage of the increase in debt since 2001 that can be attributed to President Obama's single round of 2010 stimulus spending (if you blinked and missed it, you can be forgiven; the GOP seems under the impression the clock stopped (and started) in 2010).
91%. Remember that number also - it's the percentage of the increase in debt that has nothing to do with President Obama and everything to do with policies or events that were launched by President Bush.
Breaking it down by president and percentage:
34% simply results from the Bush Recession and economic collapse (leading to a collapse in tax collection - bankrupt households and businesses don't pay tax);
16% stems from the Bush tax cuts (which led to 14% higher interest on the debt).
War and defense spending added another 29%.
Legacy costs of the war, including increased VA and Medicare (veterans have and use Medicare and injured ones more) spending from the Bush wars (all those brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder cases have to be treated, no matter how much the Tea Party would love to figure out a way not to spend taxpayer money doing so) are not even included in these figures, which would make the relative Obama contribution smaller still than 9%.
2001-2011 Debt Increase:
% inc $T* Item
34% 3.5 Bush recession -> lower tax revenues
16% 1.6 Bush tax cuts
15% 1.5 Bush defense spending increases
14% 1.4 Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
14% 1.4 interest from higher debt (marginal)
9% 0.9 Obama stimulus spending
10.3 Total *trillions of dollars
By the way, these numbers are not from some left wing think tank but from the CBO, THE final referee and authority on budget squabbles. In the interest of full disclosure, I also used a calculator and a sharpened pencil.
So the GOP 91% of the debt we are now facing and for which the Republicans are trying to make President Obama grovel before authorizing more borrowing. Only 9% of the debt comes directly from his stimulus plan which, when you think about it, was only necessary because of the Bush Recession!
Making President Obama beg before granting him the right to operate a government deeply in debt from failed Republican policies is sort of like making your neighbor mow your lawn before you will "let" him mail your mortgage payment for you.
Sources: "National Debt of the United States", CBO changes in 2001 Projections
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