I like this CBO analysis that chronicles the annual debt since our balanced budget in 2000. For Fiscal 2010, contributors to the deficit are:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12187/ChangesBaselineProjections.pdf
Bush Tax Cuts in 2001 and 2003 - $190 Billion deficit in 2010.
Bush - Lost income tax due to great recession - $700 Billion reduced tax receipts in 2010
Bush - Interest on the debt increases - 290 Billion (on the five trillion in debt the repubs ran up in 8 years)
Obama Stimulus reduced taxes - $180 Billion deficit in 2010
Obama Stimulus spending - $115 Billion
Bush and Obama, discretionary - $550 Billion (Wars in Iraq and Afghan., plus unknown,
about 1/2 to each) Bush was running 300 billion annually before Obama was elected.
That gives Bush $1.2 trillion of responsibility for last years deficit, plus half of the discretionary (300 billion more), for a total of 1.5 trillion of deficit responsibility.
That gives Obama $300 billion of direct responsibility for last years deficit, plus half of the discretionary (300 billion more), for a total of 600 billion of deficit responsibility.
(those are the big numbers, there is some noise numbers in there (like the 50 billion a year repub medicare drug coverage with no tax to pay for it), but they don't amount to much)
Bush is responsible for 75% of last years deficit, Obama for 25% of last years deficit.
The biggest single contributor to the deficit is not a spending increase, it is the loss of tax revenue due to the bursting of the housing bubble, the collapse of the banking system, and the great recession that followed causing loss of jobs and loss of income tax, declines in the stock market and loss of income tax on capital gains, and loss of income tax revenue due to low interest rates costing fixed income investors their income.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12187/ChangesBaselineProjections.pdf
Bush Tax Cuts in 2001 and 2003 - $190 Billion deficit in 2010.
Bush - Lost income tax due to great recession - $700 Billion reduced tax receipts in 2010
Bush - Interest on the debt increases - 290 Billion (on the five trillion in debt the repubs ran up in 8 years)
Obama Stimulus reduced taxes - $180 Billion deficit in 2010
Obama Stimulus spending - $115 Billion
Bush and Obama, discretionary - $550 Billion (Wars in Iraq and Afghan., plus unknown,
about 1/2 to each) Bush was running 300 billion annually before Obama was elected.
That gives Bush $1.2 trillion of responsibility for last years deficit, plus half of the discretionary (300 billion more), for a total of 1.5 trillion of deficit responsibility.
That gives Obama $300 billion of direct responsibility for last years deficit, plus half of the discretionary (300 billion more), for a total of 600 billion of deficit responsibility.
(those are the big numbers, there is some noise numbers in there (like the 50 billion a year repub medicare drug coverage with no tax to pay for it), but they don't amount to much)
Bush is responsible for 75% of last years deficit, Obama for 25% of last years deficit.
The biggest single contributor to the deficit is not a spending increase, it is the loss of tax revenue due to the bursting of the housing bubble, the collapse of the banking system, and the great recession that followed causing loss of jobs and loss of income tax, declines in the stock market and loss of income tax on capital gains, and loss of income tax revenue due to low interest rates costing fixed income investors their income.