And who would that be…it’s George W. Bush, of course. The nation’s is at its highest percent of the GDP since WWII (57% of GDP), mostly due to Bush’s tax policies.
Specifically, 40% of the fiscal deterioration we’re seeing — the single largest contributing factor — can be attributed to Bush policies. Another 12% comes from Bush’s financial rescues, while 20% are the result of the economic crisis. What’s President Obama’s share? Just 16% of the total, most of which is the result of new spending that was necessary to prevent a depression. Indeed, blaming Obama is backwards: “[P]roperly accounted for, the deficit actually goes down when you compare Obama’s budget proposals to current policy, not up.”
Where were the teabaggers when Bush was pushing through his tax cuts or his unfunded wars? It still infuriates me that no one ever talks about whether we can afford wars ($3T right now for Iraq and Afghanistan) but there is all sorts of pearl-clutching and rending of garments at spending a much more modest $1T for universal health care.
The WaPo writes about Obama’s no new tax pledge and wonders if he can keep it. They uncover this humdinger of a quote:
“There’s no question in my view that Bush was the most fiscally irresponsible president in the history of the republic,” said David M. Walker, the comptroller general under Bush who now advocates for deficit reduction.
Are we really surprised that this happened with the team of failed businessman George W. Bush and Dick “Deficits Don’t Matter” Cheney?