Here are some figures from the CBO, if you like. This particular write up looks at 2002 to 2011. Every year, the CBO makes a 10-year forecast, looking and what things should look like under current policy/conditions, if those persisted.
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/41463 "In January 2001, CBO's baseline projections showed a cumulative surplus of $5.6 trillion for the 20022011 period. The actual results have differed from those projections because of subsequent policy changes, economic developments that differed from CBO's forecast, and other factors. As a result, the federal government ran deficits from 2002 through 2011. The cumulative deficit over the 10-year period amounted to $6.1 trilliona swing of $11.7 trillion from the January 2001 projections." That's a big shift, obviously. So what caused the shift? Look at the included table and it breaks down about this way: $3.5 trillion Economic changes (including lower than expected tax revenues and higher safety net spending due to recession) $1.6 trillion Bush Tax Cuts (EGTRRA and JGTRRA), primarily tax cuts but also some smaller spending increases $1.5 trillion Increased defense and non-defense discretionary spending $1.4 trillion Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq $1.4 trillion Incremental interest due to higher debt balances $0.9 trillion Obama stimulus and tax cuts (ARRA and Tax Act of 2010) The CBO notes some technical issues with this analysis but it's pretty close by most accounts. The White House visualized the CBO data in this infographic: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infographics/us-national-debt I really like the Pew Trust visualizations/explanations of the changes: http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Fact_Sheets/Economic_Policy/drivers_federal_debt_since_2001.pdf Hope that helps. Cheers, Judah On Mon, Oct 21, 2013 at 11:49 AM, GMoney <gm0n3...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I guess i'm looking for spending figures. You do understand that a > "deficit" has two factors, right, only one of which is spending? > > I don't know how Obama's spending compares to Bush's (which is why i > asked), but I do know that Bush spent a LOT more than most conservatives > were comfortable with. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:367964 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
