The Bush Debt: $7.7 Trillion
Today, lawmakers took to the Senate floor and blasted President Bush’s wasteful spending. To fully illustrate the impact, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), brought up a chart showing the budget plans of President Clinton versus the budget formulated by Bush. He concluded that by squandering Clinton’s government surplus, Bush has cost the country $7.7 trillion:
This next chart illustrates the value of the differences between the budget landscape planned by President Clinton and the one created by President Bush. As you can see, the difference between the two is a staggering $7.7 trillion. This number represents the fiscal harm that President Bush has inflected on our nation. This number is the Bush debt. […]
Like most concepts of enormous size, this amount takes some thought to comprehend. $7.7 trillion is $25,000 owed by every adult or child in the United States.
Watch it:
The federal budget deficit is currently at “$87.7 billion so far this budget year, double the $42.2 billion imbalance recorded during the same period in 2007.”
Additionally, five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, national unemployment is going up. Between December 2006 and December 2007, the national unemployment rate increased by 13.6 percent in seasonally adjusted terms, from 4.4 to 5.0 percent. Additionally, 68 percent of the American public believes that redeployment from Iraq would help fix the country’s economic woes.
Transcript:
WHITEHOUSE: When President Bush took over, leading economists were debating the consequences of this great nation being debt-free. Standing tall in the world with no claim on it by foreign powers. But this President made a differen choice. Instead of keeping our nation on the path to economic security and prosperity, to new investments in our health care system, our students, our seniors, and our veterans, the President who called for responsibility squandered away the surpluses he inherited, mortgaged away our children and grandchildren’s futures, and compromised the quality of working Americans’ lives.
How can we measure the magnitude of the harm done to our economy and our people done by this administration’s decision to deviate from the responsible policies of President Clinton?
The first chart shows the budget plans of President Clinton as he left office and the budget formulated by President Bush. As you can see, the Clinton line — represented in blue based on his levels of taxation and spending — has budget surpluses every single year of this decade. In contrast, the Bush budget line — represented in red — has deep record-setting deficits in every year after 2001.
This next chart illustrates the value of the differences between the budget landscape planned by President Clinton and the one created by President Bush. As you can see, the difference between the two is a staggering $7.7 trillion. This number represents the fiscal harm that President Bush has inflected on our nation. This number is the Bush debt. […]
Like most concepts of enormous size, this amount takes some thought to comprehend. $7.7 trillion is $25,000 owed by every adult or child in the United States.
7 comments:
Can I just say that I think they both suck?
The thing that pisses me off the most about Bush and the economy is the damn wasteful spending. Probably wouldn't have been an issue if we weren't conducting a couple of wars but crap on a shingle when tax revenues are up and you are still blowing through money faster than you take it in somethings got to give.
I've just come to hate both parties more and more lately. I mean the Dems won the congress back promising to bring home the troops and to lower oil prices, well guess what the troops are still there and oil prices have only gone up. It's all a bunch of crap. Bah!!!
Is is a bunch of crap, but... the Reps hang their credentials on being fiscally "better" than the democrats.
Oil prices have gone up because we're dependent on foreign oil and not bothering to make friends with any of the oil producers. and the people running the show don't give a shit because their pockets are lined when oil prices are high.
You ask me, American needs to look inward. WE need to retreat from the world stage, become self-sufficient and to hell with everyone else.
But whatever. the empire is falling. I hope what comes out the other side is better, for the sake of my child.
As for the social issues. It would be real simple if people would let others live their lives and not pass biblical judgment on them. That Oklahoma rep gay bashing? give me a fucking break. Hate isn't covered by the first amendment. And I'm goddamn tired of people using that book as a means of righteous discrimination.
The more I hear shit like that, the more anti-religion I become.
I don't know if I'd go as far to say the Empire is falling. Things aren't great right now but times have been worse than they are right now, this too shall pass. But I'm the optimistic one.
Out of curiosity which oil producing country do you think we should be making nice with? Russia? Iran? Venezuela?
We are already fairly close with Saudi Arabia, probably closer than many people would like us to be. Got a good relationship with Canada so that makes 4 out the Top 5 oil producers we have good relationships with. Heck we get more oil from Canada than any other country.
The problem is demand is not decreasing and our refinery capacity is not growing so there's no cure in the near future for rising costs until demand decreases or refinery capacity increases. Improving the strength of the dollar would help ease some of the pain but I don't see that being a quick fix either. One of these days we will start drilling more in the ANWR region and increase our production but even then we would only produce enough to last us for maybe 15 to 20 more years. Now if they ever find a good way to get oil from oil shale then baby we are back in business and the middle east can kiss our ass. However considering this is something my dad was working on back in 1968 while he was getting his engineering degree and we've yet to make much headway I don't hold out hope it's going to fix any problems.
You know my feelings on being energy independent and the quicker we do so the better. However until someone finds a way to make it affordable and profitable you know it's not going to happen. I'd love to pull back from the rest of the world and just bunker down but we only have about 12 to 20 more years of oil reserves here in the US so I imagine something will start happening soon. As long as we remain close to Canada we should be ok because they've got enough to quench our thirst for a few more years beyond that.
I don't think we should be making nice with anyone. i think we should be focusing on freeing ourselves from an oil-based economy. Hydrogen cars. Solar. wind. whatever. Just get out from under these people.
history has proven that given the proper motivation and unification, a country can achieve amazing things. Freeing ourselves from oil dependency can be that thing. maybe it'd take killing off all the oil barons, but that's a sacrifice I'd be willing to make.
Ok, in my haste I misread you comment. I couldn't imagine you saying we should make nice with anyone so I should have questioned myself right there :)
At 2 am this morning when I couldn't sleep I was thinking about this and weening ourselves off oil, then I started wondering what if the alternative is actually more expensive? I mean ethanol is no savior and if anything it drives up prices of things like wheat and corn. Yeah it's cleaner (or so I've been told) but if it ends up costing us more are we really money ahead? Instead of oil barons we'd have corn barons. I think I'm personally leaning toward hydrogen as my option of choice but no one asks me.
Sadly, until we run out or get damn near running out we aren't going to really make any sudden leaps forward.
OMG, this is what you lie in bed pondering when you can't sleep? And here I thought you'd be spending your lottery winnings...
My brain sadly never shuts down and sadly I've also already planned out how I'm going to spend my lottery winnings accompanied with it's very own spreadsheet breaking it all down.
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