More on the Deficit

I’ve talked about this before, but this nice chart really puts the whole thing in perspective:

What this shows of course, is that the large deficit mainly reflects the unpaid-for policies of the Bush years – war and tax cuts. If we had entered this recession close to balance, we could have fought the recession more effectively by accommodating the increase in the deficit due to the downturn and complementing it with a bigger stimulus. As it was, we were burdened by the heavy yoke of the Bush years. Remember that next time some Republican or ill-informed fellow-traveler complains about “Obama’s deficit”.