Krugman: A note on the Bush fiscal legacy

[Wetzelbill]

A note on the Bush fiscal legacy

Right now, the OMB is projecting a debt/GDP ratio of 77 percent by 2019 — 69 percent if you net out financial assets acquired via the TARP and all that. This may be somewhat over-optimistic, but stay with it for a bit.

As I’ve been pointing out, the projected debt/GDP ratio will be high by US historical standards, but within a range that a number of advanced countries have entered without catastrophe in the past. Still, it’s not good. And I had a thought that I haven’t seen anyone else explore (apologies if someone has already done this.) Namely, what would things look like if we hadn’t had 8 years of gross fiscal irresponsibility from the Bush adminstration?

There were two big-ticket Bush policies. One was the tax cuts, which cost around $1.8 trillion in revenue; add in interest costs, and we’re presumably talking about more than $2 trillion in debt. The other was the Iraq War, which has cost at least $700 billion, and will cost more before we finally extract ourselves.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/a-note-on-the-bush-fiscal-legacy/

[Suich]

1. Funny how nobody brings that up, isn't it?

After all, isn't Obama 100% responsible for the state of the economy now?



:sarcasm:

[Union Yes]

2. A wake of death and misery is the Boosh legacy.

[caseymoz]

3. It was amazing how suddenly Repubs worried about deficits once health care became an issue.

It seems that all deficits aren't created equal to them.

[unblock]

6. cheney declared "deficits don't matter anymore" the minute they seized power

and the entire republican party and the media went completely silent about the topic.

and almost exactly 8 years later, suddenly, it's the just about the ONLY thing that matters to republicans, and of course the media are now dwelling on it as well.

[johnaries]

4. Gore's "lockbox" doesn't sound quite so silly now, does it? nt

[avaistheone1]

5. It certainly doesn't.

[Wetzelbill]

7. isn't it funny how Dems who are way ahead of their time

get mocked by Republicans but inevitably prove to be right?