09.19.2013
10.014.2013 repaired links
11.017.2013 update
U.S. National Debt Grew By 58% Under Obama in Less Than 5 Years
original article written by Net Advisor™
WASHINGTON, DC. There are a number of charts and opinion articles out there touted by the political far left making claims that President Obama is ‘less of a spender’ than former President Bush. Why we are talking about what Bush may or may not have done five or more years ago, ignores what is going on in the current Administration.
To help end this debate we went back twelve-years to review who spent how much, when, and which party controlled the taxpayer checkbook.
[1] Debating the Nonsense: Red Herring Argument
Some argue that the Bush “Wars” were not paid for. This implies that everyone who fought in the wars have yet to be paid, the manufactures of all those defense systems are also waiting for a check and so are their employees. This is a bogus and misleading argument, and detracts from the real argument: The total deficit facing America due to reckless spending.
The Afghanistan and Iraq wars were not in the original budgets. Congress did not have the foresight to predict that the U.S. would be attacked on 9/11/2001, and magically have set aside billions of dollars for war just in case.
Both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were approved by a majority of a bi-partisan Congress after 9/11/2001. The costs of the wars were added to the “Bush deficit.” Other Bush debt was noted in this report. We also looked at a more detailed report of Bush’s spending last August 16, 2012.
[2] The Bush Deficit (8 years): $4.9 Trillion
Regardless of the counter arguments, the facts are that under Republican, Democratic, and Bi-partisan Congress, the end result of debt attributed to President Bush over his eight-year term is $4.9. Trillion [Source: CBS News (PDF)].
[3] The Obama’s Deficit (4 years to Sept. 17, 2013 – so far): $6.112 Trillion
On August 25, 2012, I discussed how President Obama’s debt already EXCEEDED eight years of Bush in just half the time.
As of September 17, 2013, the total U.S. Debt is about $16.738 Trillion (Source: TreasuryDirect.gov, United States Treasury PDF).
Debt Math: $16.738 Trillion (Total current debt) – $10.626 Trillion (U.S. debt before Obama took office) = $6.112 Trillion (Current debt associated to President Obama, plus 3 years to go to the end of his term).
In percentage terms so far, President Obama has increased the U.S. National Debt by 58% in less than 5 years.
More Math: $6.112 Trillion (Current Obama debt) dividend into $10.626 Trillion (U.S. debt before Obama took office) = .57519% or rounded to a two digit whole number = 58% (Obama’s percent increase of the debt).
[4] Obama’s ‘I Inherit’ a ‘Deficit’ Argument
President Obama has repeatedly said that he “inherited” a $1.3 Trillion deficit from the previous (Bush) Administration. The government’s fiscal year ends September 30.
Even if we give President Obama a bye and say, OK we will make you the only President in U.S. history where we won’t count the debt of the last year of the previous Administration that applies to the current fiscal year Obama resides over. Obama’s debt is still $4.812 Trillion with 3 years in office remaining.
Ignoring $1.3 Trillion “Inherit Debt” Math: $6.112 Trillion (Current Obama debt) – $1.3 Trillion (Debt Obama says he “inherited“) = $4.812 Trillion (Revised Obama debt).
[5] Obama Biggest Spender in U.S. History to Date
If we discount Obama’s “inherited” debt; it’s still about what Bush’s debt was ($4.9 Trillion). The only issue is Bush’s debt occurred over 8 years, and Obama so far, racked up about the same debt in less than 5 years. President Obama still has 3 years in office remaining and in all likelihood; Obama will be the biggest deficit spender in U.S. history.
Keep in mind that every president inherits ALL the previous Administrations successes and failures, including deficits. This standard is applied equally to all presidents, thus Obama is not except from this math.
[6] Did Obama Inherited a Deficit from Republicans? Who Controlled Congress?
President Obama has chastised the deficit spending on the previous Bush Administration.
“the problem is that the way Bush’ done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the bank of China in the name of our children driving up our national debt…”
— Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) (campaign 2008) Source: CNN Video (above)
What then Senator Obama did NOT tell you is that Obama’s Democrat Party controlled both houses of Congress from Jan. 3, 2007 to Jan. 3, 2011; this includes the last two years (2007-2008) of the Bush Presidency which coincided with the recession.
President Bush signed the Democrat’s budget (deficits) into law, so he gets to share in the blame?
- 111th Congress (Jan. 3, 2009 to Jan. 3, 2011)
- House Majority: (D) Senate Majority: (D); U.S. President: Obama (D) Jan 20th
- 110th Congress (Jan. 3, 2007 to Jan. 3, 2009)
- House Majority: (D) Senate Majority: (D); U.S. President: Bush (R)
- 109th Congress (Jan. 3, 2005 to Jan. 3, 2007)
- House Majority: (R) Senate Majority: (R); U.S. President: Bush (R)
- 108th Congress (Jan. 3, 2003 to Jan. 3, 2005)
- House Majority: (R) Senate Majority: (R); U.S. President: Bush (R)
- 107th Congress (Jan. 3, 2001 to Jan. 3, 2003)
- House Majority: (R) Senate Majority: (D)[2]; U.S. President: Bush (R) Jan 20th
[7] Obama Should Blame Democrats For His “Inherited” Deficit
What we have is the Democrat Party was responsible for 100% majority control of the federal budgets from Jan. 3, 2007 to Jan. 3, 2011. So, unless President Obama wants to go on all the TV news Sunday talk shows and do a national press conference blaming his Democrat Party for giving him a $1.3 Trillion deficit just in 2009, I’m afraid that’s your debt Mr. President.
If that debt isn’t enough, even after Obama leaves office, ObamaCare will allow all future Presidents to blame President Obama for the increase in healthcare debt:
‘ObamaCare adds $6.2 Trillion to Long-Term Deficit’ (HTML)(PDF) (2013 GAO Report, PDF 60pps).
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Graphic Credit: Heritage.org
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