Who caused the Deficit?

by Catherine Mulbrandon on July 8, 2009

Some more data visualization goodies…
Two methods for presenting the source for the 1.2 trillion dollar US federal deficit:

From the New York Times
0610-web-leonhardt

From ThinkProgress
deficit

Tagged as: Bar Chart, Federal Budget, Pie chart, United States

  • Anonymous

    Totally specious, politically-driven analysis.

    First, why would anyone in touch with the real world imagine a Congressional or CBO estimate in 2001 for 2009-12 had any validity?  They ALWAYS underestimate the net future cost of programs already committed.  A large part of current problems were baked in the cake over previous decades.

    Second, why does the net shortfall due to the recession get attributed to Bush? Congress during the Bush years, and Bush, no doubt contributed to what occurred, as did their predecessors.  But Obama has made it far worse by his continued attacks on business and the costs of regulation and Obamacare, plus the continued uncertainty about what other restrictions he, his czars and Congress will inflict in future. The duration of this depression was not a fixed event from the outset, just like the Hoover/Roosevelt depression, the failure of the economy to bounce back has been principally driven by Obama and the Democrats.

    So we have a diagram with pretty colors, impressive collection of arrows, which is in fact no more than a political statement with negligible connection to reality.  If it is from the New York Times, that explains it all.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KIMPFSV5FFWBY7J7FI5KJ72KFY AvB

    and your comment isn’t politically driven?

  • http://www.facebook.com/lee.mcmindes Lee Mcmindes

    Are not his attacks on business in reality a return to Bush era taxes? How do attacks, costs of regulation and Obamacare translate into real dollars? Which regulations? The recession gets added to bush because they happened on his watch.

  • Anonymous

    ” A large part of current problems were baked in the cake over previous decades.”
    Umm. No.  We are talking about actual policy decisions.  The bar was set at zero at Clinton and it is up to each president to balance the budget, any unfunded liabilities are down arrows on the graph, any extra revenues would make the arrows go up. Any shortfall in revenues would be labeled a ‘downturn’ arrow.  If the budget pays for everything, it won’t have a down arrow, except for when there are downturns (which are not necessarily the fault of that administration).”Second, why does the net shortfall due to the recession get attributed to Bush?”

    It’s not ‘attributed’ to Bush.  Read the heading again.

    “But Obama has made it far worse by his continued attacks on business and the costs of regulation and Obamacare, plus the continued uncertainty about what other restrictions he, his czars and Congress will inflict in future.”

    Well this is all partisan and lacking any evidence, since you don’t want to post a single link or any evidence to back up your claim there’s no way to respond to your story.

    “The duration of this depression was not a fixed event from the outset, just like the Hoover/Roosevelt depression, the failure of the economy to bounce back has been principally driven by Obama and the Democrats.”

    Again, you really have to provide evidence if you are going to make claims.

    “So we have a diagram with pretty colors, impressive collection of arrows, which is in fact no more than a political statement with negligible connection to reality.  If it is from the New York Times, that explains it all.”

    Actually it does reflect fact, comes from data, and it’s unfortunate you are to partisan that you have to be defensive when you’re confronted with facts (that aren’t necessarily attacking Bush mind you).

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_BKGPTE7SEWSXQD4SXRZMOWBRLQ fububalla

    To be fair here, the analysis here is clearly politically driven but not at all specious as you put it. It isn’t titled who caused the Public Debt, it’s concerning the deficit. Bush CLEEEARLY shattered the deficit, you have to admit that no matter how partisan one wants to be. The worse thing Obama did was cave in to the Bush tax cuts which bogged us down in a fiscal quagmire. Most recent cause of deficit Bush, most recent advocator of the deficit, apparently Obama.

  • Jeff Rimann

    jacksmind clearly has been run over, smooched and then tossed aside by the republican rhetoric machine. Thanks for suck a politically biased comment that really does prove you are a TRUE voter of the republican party and show your love of America by voting as such, no matter what the so called “Facts” and “analysis experts” say.

  • Anonymous

    The facts are the winner, as shown here in black and white… and brown.  Curious that the Bushies should refer to the ‘pretty colors’.  They don’t mention the color red – the color of the blood we shed for that clown in his mistaken war over WMD that did not exist – another FACT they so conveniently choose to deny or forget.

  • Derek Smith

    Actually, according to all experts – including the cheif UNSCOM inspector at time and many others since – there were chemical and bio warfare agents in Iraq.  That’s from an Australian peace-nic, no Bush fan.  Get your facts straight.  WMDs were found in IRAQ.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Leone/504466978 Justin Leone

    The recession is attributed to Bush because it happened right at the end of his presidency.  We could blame it on Congress, except that Bush’s administration was known for bullying and lying to congress in order to get them to authorize his agenda.

    You can say that Obama is to blame for it’s failure to bounce back, but Obama has had the difficulty of dealing with a Congress that’s flatly refused to cooperate.  And even still, the downward slide has slowed significantly since Bush has left.  If anything, I would say that this chart attributes too much blame on Obama, since it attributes him as “supporting” the wars.  Disengaging from messy and clumsily established occupations of unstable countries is NOT a simple matter.

  • Pingback: Who Casued The Deficit? « Incline Left!

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