Can anyone tell me about the deficits from the Bush years?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

And by that I mean including all the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were not included in the accounting at the time?

The budget people now are saying that Obama's deficits are going to be sky-high, but I suspect that if the off-the-books money from Bush had been included in their deficits, then Obama's wouldn't look as awful as they do.

I'm sure as heck not an economist...(can you tell?) so I'm hoping my question makes enough sense to get some rational answers.

Thanks, everyone.

[LakeSamish706]

1. Uhhhh.. No! Cause they shredded the books don't ya know! n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Thanks for the kick!

And boy, do I hope you're wrong!

About the book shredding, that is...;)

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. the trade deficit has decreased now

the deficit that bush gave us is in trillions
http://www.costofwar.com

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Ah, thank you!

This link you gave me shows me what I thought was the case: The Bush deficits far overreach any Obama deficits.

Thank you!

[Juche]

5. It doesn't seem to be a big jump

Obama's budget is barely bigger than Bushs. In 2009 Bush proposed a 3.1 trillion budget. In 2010 Obama is proposing a 3.55 trillion budget. Its an increase, but not a huge one. And of that 450 billion, a reasonable deal is the fact that Obama isn't using Bush's accounting tricks to hide the cost of war and natural disaster. I can't remember the exact figures, but it is something like 1-2 trillion over a decade that is hidden by Bush that Obama makes transparent. So add that in and Obama's budget is probably only 300-400 billion more than Bush's last year.
A budget increase of 10% is not too big, Bush did that from 2005-2006 and the GOP never blinked.

The fact that we are in the midst of a severe recession makes Obama's deficits different than the ones BUsh ran in 2002-2007, which were mostly due to bad decisions on Bush's part (tax cuts on the wealthy, unnecessary wars)

Also Obama is calling for a variety of new taxes to fund the spending. $600 billion over 10 years in cap/trade. Reversing the Bush tax cuts will (as a guess) raise $2 trillion. Changing deduction rules for those over 250k/year will raise $300 billion in a decade. Combined with the $2 trillion in spending cuts Obama talked about during his speech a few weeks ago and we are looking at about an extra 5 trillion in a decade in lower spending and higher taxes. Combined with ending the Iraq war (which McCain and the GOP wouldn't agree to) and it may be 6 trillion or more.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Thank you!

Your detailed response was just what I was looking for. I will study it and even now, at first glance, I can tell it makes sense.

I am a bit confused by your last paragraph, esp. this sentence:

Combined with ending the Iraq war (which McCain and the GOP wouldn't agree to) and it may be 6 trillion or more.

What does the $6 trillion refer to? Sorry to be dense!

[Juche]

7. 6 trillion in higher revenue and lower taxes in the next decade

Obama talked about cutting $2 trillion in spending when he gave a speech a few weeks ago. He has also put cap/trade and some new tax laws into effect for the well off that'll raise $1 trillion over the next decade. Combined with letting the Bush tax cuts expire and Obama will likely get 5 trillion in new revenue or less spending than a GOP president would have done.

And since McCain wanted to stay in Iraq and Obama wants to leave, that could easily save us another trillion or so in lower spending. So I'm guessing Obama's policies will either save or create $6 trillion for the federal government between 2010 and 2020.



Also Obama's healthcare plan is based on ideas from the commonwealth fund, which has said if their ideas are implemented the US would save about $3 trillion in lower healthcare costs over the next decade.

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2009/Feb/The-Path-to-a-High-Performance-US-Health-System.aspx

So add that in, and add in the savings from Obama's energy policy which will result in lower electric costs, higher MPG cars, cheaper fuels, lower energy needs for autos, businesses and homes, etc. and we will see cheaper energy with less of a need for it.

The way I see it if you add it all together the policies Obama is pushing (the healthcare changes, the tax policy changes, Iraq, energy) Obama is likely going to save the country about $7 trillion in spending on both public/private things while raising an extra $3 trillion in revenue.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Thank you for the details.

That really helps.