An analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities dispels the impression created by blind critics of this democratic administration and its policies who justify most of their opposition on the basis of the countries fiscal deficit.
http://www.cbpp.org/...
If anyone needed additional proof that it was Republican ideas and actions that turned unprecedented surpluses into record deficits the center’s analysis shows that almost all of the current deficits would disappear by 2020 if Bush had not invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and had not emptied the treasury with the tax cuts.
Follow the link below to see the chart:
http://www.cbpp.org/...
That means without the Bush trilogy we would have a balanced budget by 2020 even with the burdens of the emergency expenditures that were needed to supposedly save us from a depression. That’s right, in spite of TARP, and the stimulus package, and shortage of revenue due to the recession we would have been able to virtually balance the budget if Bush and his cohorts had not damaged the country’s coffers to this extent.
How do we move forward? There are those who say that a permanent deficit is inconsequential and need not be addressed. But most serious observers agree that long term deficits should be addressed to ensure the country can effectively finance its needs. President Obama has provided an agenda/plan and does so each time a new budget is proposed. As the report above shows his agenda makes assumptions and picks priorities that lead to an estimated $1.3 trillion deficit reduction. You could agree or disagree with the agenda or pieces of it and criticize it from the left or the right, but that is not happening in any serious way in our public discourse. I know discussion of budgets and funding are not sexy topics and most voters will supposedly tune out but can we really afford to be distracted with non consequential chatter for this long and still have a politics that provides rational solutions to the problems of our time.
But these two wars and the tax cuts did not occur in a vacuum. They are symptoms of a political decision making system that was unaccountable and not tuned to the needs of its citizenry or at best did not take them seriously. Today’s challenges are similarly at risk of being ignored and/or trivialized by the likes of Tea party champions and their supporters in the media without providing credible solutions for the country. So the question that remains is: How do we realign our public institutions and their agendas with the lives of its real citizens and their problems?