Where does the US National Debt come from? The New York Times had a good article a couple weeks back that analyzed the sources of the debt. It only starts after Clinton left office (presumably to make Bush look worse), but it’s still an interesting take. Here are the categories. Before looking, take a minute and guess at the proportions. (It should add up to 100%).
- The business cycle
- Bush-era legislation “like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit”.
- Obama’s extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000.
- Obama’s stimulus bill.
- Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas.
The correct answers are after the jump.
- The business cycle: 37%
- Bush-era legislation “like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit”: 33%
- Obama’s extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000: 20%
- Obama’s stimulus bill: 7%
- Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas: 3%
In other words, it ain’t Obama’s fault. Only 30% is due to his action, and two-thirds of that is failing to end Bush policies.
Here’s a good pie chart and commentary.
So this is an interesting analysis, but I think it’s rather silly to have a “business cycle” category. Attributing >1/3 of this to the natural variance in the economy over time is just ridiculous. This portion of the deficit/debt is really the result of policies (both on the spending and revenue side) that lacked sufficient foresight to help better balance revenues with expenditures across a time period that included–SHOCK!!!–leaner years than 1999 and 2000. This 1/3 shouldn’t just be explained away like this.