Honestly, I'm not that interested in the deficit at all; in my view, it's just more Rethug talking points. However, for those people who think it needs addressing, the Economist has a bar graph that tags the source of parts of the deficit.
There is so much bogosity -- disinformation and misinformation -- flying around, it isn't easy to figure out what's real or not. I can't be sure that the Economist is any more honest than the rest of the pack, but the graph certainly makes the case for the sheer political/economic irresponsibility of the Bush years.
Economist annotated bar graphThe graphic was released by the White House, the analysis based on data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
http://media.economist.com/...
The largest portion of the deficit is the Bush-era tax cuts -- a bi-partisan blunder, doubled down on by sad Obama's cave-in to their extension. However, the article notes that another big contributor is the decline in revenues due to the bursting of the housing bubble and the rape-and-pillage Wall Street attack on the American economy, the mortgage meltdown.
I wish the snooze media would actually confront lying scumbag Republikanz who distort the argument and make Obama the Spender-in-Chief with actual facts, but that's just a delightful dream.