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Immaculate Conception -Our National Debt We have all heard the tea party/republicans talk about the federal debt. They are obsessed with it and they seem to talk about Obama being the cause of the increase in the national debt. They claim that Obama is a "big spender" even though the facts show that growth in federal spending is slower than any President since Dwight Eisenhower . They talk about the increase in the size of government when the increase in the size of Government has been largely in Homeland Security and Military (both problems and needs inherited from the prior administration). They talk about deficits even as Obama has reduced the Bush era deficits by over one half. So the common talking points originating from the "echo chamber" are misleading, disingenuous in their presentation and outright lies all for the purpose of demonizing the sitting President and aimed to gain political advantage. Democrats on the other hand talk about the Bush era tax cuts while engaging in two wars on borrowed money as being the cause of the increase in debt level. As, in many things, the cause is not entirely as simple as either party would have us believe. Listed below are six contributing factors accounting for the increase in the size of the national debt. Not all of the causes are the fault of either party. They are the result of actions by two administrations. Expenditures, courses of action and obligations agreed to do not magically end with the change of administrations as much as tea party/republicans would like us to believe that to be true. 1. The Bush tax cuts The biggest culprit? The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts under then-president George W. Bush, says the Associated Press. They have added an estimated $1.6 trillion to the national debt. It's pretty clear, says Brian Beutler, that Bush-era policies, "particularly debt-financed tax cuts," make up "the lion's share of the problem." And they're ongoing, so the tab for them builds every year. 2. Health care entitlements Federal regulation, bureaucracy, and new Medicaid and other entitlements have pushed up federal spending by $1.1 trillion — $900 billion more than required by inflation. 3. Medicare prescription drug benefit Another piece of the pie: George W. Bush's addition of Medicare's prescription drug benefit. That has added $300 billion to the debt, according to the AP. 4. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan The tab for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan comes to $1.3 trillion, another major chunk of new, unexpected spending over the last decade. "These wars cost us plenty," says Nake M. Kamrany and they "have to be financed with borrowing, which adds up to national debt." 5. Obama's economic stimulus The 2009 stimulus package enacted by President Obama cost $800 billion. And the 2010 tax-cut compromise between Obama and Republicans, which extended jobless benefits and reduced payroll taxes, added another $400 billion to the debt. Add another $200 billion for the 2008 bailout of the financial industry (Bush), and the government's efforts to soften the blow of the Great Recession amount to one of the largest chunks of the debt build-up. 6. The Great Recession Some of the spending gap came from factors outside the control of Congress and the White House. As the government spent heavily to boost the economy, says the AP, it took in hundreds of billions less in tax revenue than expected, because the Great Recession eroded Americans' income and spending. |
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Keep it going skippy aka donal even a donkey will climb out of the well if you keep throwing dirt on top of it!!! . The beginning of life, conception..
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