Because he's a politician trying to protect his party at the expense of his rivals?

Just kidding! That never happens in contemporary politics; modern leaders have risen above such pandering.

It couldn't possibly be President Obama's outer-worldly spending spree, right? It couldn't possibly be that we are at the point of borrowing because we can't otherwise make the interest payments on our prior borrowing.

Again:



The Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Defense - $1.5 Trillion added to the deficit.
The Bush Tax Cuts - $1.8 Trillion added to the deficit.
Non-Defense Discretionary spending under George Bush - $608 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush Tarp and other Bailouts - $224 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush's Medicare Drug Policies - $180 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush's Stimulus and other spending - #773 Billion added to the deficit.

If you want to focus your rage in the direction it most deserves to go, focus it the puffer fish.

AdolfOliverPanties: It couldn't possibly be President Obama's outer-worldly spending spree, right? It couldn't possibly be that we are at the point of borrowing because we can't otherwise make the interest payments on our prior borrowing.

Again:

[ezkool.com image 640x710]

The Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Defense - $1.5 Trillion added to the deficit.
The Bush Tax Cuts - $1.8 Trillion added to the deficit.
Non-Defense Discretionary spending under George Bush - $608 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush Tarp and other Bailouts - $224 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush's Medicare Drug Policies - $180 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush's Stimulus and other spending - #773 Billion added to the deficit.

If you want to focus your rage in the direction it most deserves to go, focus it the puffer fish.

[madmikesamerica.com image 140x140]

Thanks. The conservative talking heads dismiss the 'Blame Bush' answer even if it is true. It's like they are looking for a different retort to their claims that everything bad in the world is the fault of the Democrats since 2006.

debt ceiling raised seven times during bush. boehner et al. all vote for it. tons of debt, but no matter. THEN the black guy gets in the WH and the tea baggers bring the US to the edge of default. the stock market crashes... and it's obama's fault? jesus farking christ.

i almost hope that obama loses and that the GOP increases its house seats and gets a 60-vote majority in the senate - just to see how they'd blame the dems when the country's prospects turn from bad to worse. believe me; they'd still do it.

FlashHarry: i almost hope that obama loses and that the GOP increases its house seats and gets a 60-vote majority in the senate - just to see how they'd blame the dems when the country's prospects turn from bad to worse. believe me; they'd still do it.

No need to imagine. Isn't that what happened from 2001-2007?

BTW let's not forget one administration's shady, blubbering-vagina accounting practices, and how the following administration actually manned up.

"The Obama Administration also made four significant accounting changes to more accurately report the total spending by the federal government. The four changes were: 1) accounting for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ("overseas military contingencies") in the budget rather than through the use of supplemental appropriations; 2) assuming the Alternative Minimum Tax will be indexed for inflation; 3) accounting for the full costs of Medicare reimbursements; and 4) anticipating the inevitable expenditures for natural disaster relief. According to administration officials, these changes will make the debt over ten years look $2.7 trillion larger than it would otherwise appear."

/no - you go look it up, dumbshiat
//it's been part of the public record for years
/no excuse for your ignorance, teatards and the like

AdolfOliverPanties: It couldn't possibly be President Obama's outer-worldly spending spree, right? It couldn't possibly be that we are at the point of borrowing because we can't otherwise make the interest payments on our prior borrowing.

Again:

[ezkool.com image 640x710]

The Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Defense - $1.5 Trillion added to the deficit.
The Bush Tax Cuts - $1.8 Trillion added to the deficit.
Non-Defense Discretionary spending under George Bush - $608 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush Tarp and other Bailouts - $224 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush's Medicare Drug Policies - $180 Billion added to the deficit.
Bush's Stimulus and other spending - #773 Billion added to the deficit.

If you want to focus your rage in the direction it most deserves to go, focus it the puffer fish.

[madmikesamerica.com image 140x140]

It doesn't change the point your graph is making but TARP has largely been paid back. So thanks a lot for making me defend GWB. Yuck.

ftfa: In any event, since so much is being made by the administration of CBO's prowess at "basic U.S. fiscal budget math" in arriving at ten-year forecasts, thanks are in order to Zero Hedge, which dug out CBO's 2001 forecast of where we'd be today. According to CBO, we were going to be sitting pretty: The debt would essentially be paid off (except for holders of bonds that hadn't matured yet), the debt-to-GDP ratio would be a tiny 4.8%, Treasury would be in the black - holding $2.4 trillion more in uncommitted funds than it owed in debt obligations, and Leviathan would be collecting 2011 budget surplus of $889 billion!

I guess they were a tad off. But not to worry, I'm sure they've got 2021 pegged to the penny.

i love that he can say this so smugly. "those pussies at the cbo couldn't account for the reckless spending and indefensibly timed tax cuts of president bush. since they can't account for the possibility that the president will be an intellectual and ethical abortion, i guess we can't count on them for anything."

gameshowhost: BTW let's not forget one administration's shady, blubbering-vagina accounting practices, and how the following administration actually manned up.

"The Obama Administration also made four significant accounting changes to more accurately report the total spending by the federal government. The four changes were: 1) accounting for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ("overseas military contingencies") in the budget rather than through the use of supplemental appropriations; 2) assuming the Alternative Minimum Tax will be indexed for inflation; 3) accounting for the full costs of Medicare reimbursements; and 4) anticipating the inevitable expenditures for natural disaster relief. According to administration officials, these changes will make the debt over ten years look $2.7 trillion larger than it would otherwise appear."

/no - you go look it up, dumbshiat
//it's been part of the public record for years
/no excuse for your ignorance, teatards and the like

i love it. obama pulls away the curtain, and gets immediately blamed for what's behind it.

Angry Drunk Bureaucrat: No need to imagine. Isn't that what happened from 2001-2007?

b...b...but 9/11?

Here's a good article on S&P's inconsistencies: Link (new window)

My hunch is that S&P was making a political argument and felt the need to cast it as deficit arithmetic. Then, when their arithmetic proved wrong, they were left looking foolish. As it stands, you actually can't coherently merge the first and second versions of S&P's explanation of the downgrade. That should tell you something about how rigorous their framework is, even if doesn't obviate the still-legitimate points they made about our political system.

So I see that the "Please dear god if we say it enough let people blame this on Obama instead of the Teabaggers that did it" machine was oiled up and ready to go this morning.

Not going to work, just so you know. But it's nice that you're trying.

This is a partisan opinion piece. It is of no value whatsoever, and contains no useful facts of any kind.

That's for anyone thinking of reading it.

unlikely: Not going to work, just so you know.

But it is going to work. It's already working.

I try not to throw the word "retard" around, but I swear the people who listen to Republican mouthpieces and fu*king believe them must have some sort of mental defect that would also allow them to be roughly ass-raped and, despite all the blood and pain, they somehow honestly believe that they are eating ice cream.

It just doesn't make sense in any rational way. Like, I can't make it fit in to my head that these people really can't see, for just one example, the accounting honesty that gameshowhost was talking about.

The truth is right there fu*king you in the ass, you goddamn retards!

PonceAlyosha: LasersHurt: This is a partisan opinion piece. It is of no value whatsoever, and contains no useful facts of any kind.

That's for anyone thinking of reading it.

I thought NRO stood for "Not [to] Read, Obviously."

Never Read, OrElse.

LegacyDL: There's a statute of limitations for "...but..but..Bush". I'm sorry but there is.

And it won't run out until the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire and the deficit spending his administration was responsible for has been recompensed.

So, maybe by sometime in the 2070s.

The Dog Ate My Homework: I got a flat tire on my bike ride this morning. Thanks a lot Obama.

He gave my cat scabies. Thanks a lot, Fartbongo.

LegacyDL: RainDawg: That says a whole lot more about you than about Obama.

My comment wasn't simply targeted toward Obama, but more towards the current political climate. What I'm saying is we can't change past events, but we sure as hell can move on.

When FDR rolled in as President, I don't think his constituents were going "but..but..Hoover!". No, shiat got done. We built roads and buildings, amassed a crazy war machine, and made it home in time to listen to Abbott and Costello.

My question is what happened to that "American spirit" and can-do attitude?

An entire party decided that's not what we do anymore.