Policy Contributions to the Deficit

Everyone knows our budget deficits have gotten huge over the past 10 years (after having a surplus in 2001). But one of the things people don't often take into consideration is how much a recession impacts our budget. When the economy takes a hit, that lowers the amount of taxes the government collects; surely the worst recession since the Great Depression is going to be responsible for worse deficits for a while. And part of the reason we went from a surplus under Clinton to deficits under Bush was the stock-bubble-recession when Bush took office.

So ignoring the effect of the economy on our budget in the past 10 years, here's the actual policy contributions to the deficit from Bush and Obama:

I understand being concerned about the national debt. But what blows my mind is how many people consider that a reason to vote Republican. How many Republican congressmen that voted for our biggest budget-busters of the past 10 years are now the same ones feigning concern for the national debt? And how many people are falling for it?

It's also important to remember, when people claim "we have a spending problem not a taxing problem", that the Bush tax cuts are the biggest policy contribution to our deficits. And the graph above only shows their cost within Bush's presidency, not the full long-term cost.