Some critics charge that President Obama and the 111th Congress generated the huge federal budget deficits that the nation now faces.
In fact, the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic downturn together explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years.
Economist Mark Thoma says, “Notice the tiny contribution of Tarp, Fannie, and Freddie (red) and the stimulus package (just below the red) to the deficit from 2012 onward. These are not our long-term budget problems.”
Please note the 2019 Deficit without George Bush.
Jay Rosen: “President George W. Bush was a radical, not a conservative or traditional Republican. The press never took it seriously; in my view, that was a bad decision— if we can call it that.”