What Caused the Budget Deficit?
by Matthew Yglesias
David Leonhardt has a nice article breaking down the sources
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.html?hp>
of the growth in the budget deficit. Since Leonhardt works for The New
York Times rather than USA Today, they didn't see fit to illustrate
his article with a pie chart, but I made one myself:
[deficit]
"The first category the business cycle accounts
for 37 percent of the $2 trillion swing."
Second, Bush-era legislation "like his tax cuts and the
Medicare prescription drug benefit, [that] not only continue to cost the
government but have also increased interest payments on the national
debt."
Third, "Obama's main contribution to the deficit is his
extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for
households making less than $250,000 [...] 20 percent of the swing."
Fourth, "About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr.
Obama signed in February."
Fifth, "only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama's agenda on
health care, education, energy and other areas."
In other words, the very high deficits are not Obama's fault
according to any normal way of assessing political blame...
More here: http://snipurl.com/rtyig [yglesias_thinkprogress_org]
