Reactionary politics and the deficit

Chad Stone, the chief economist for The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, informs us that “…the Bush-era tax cuts and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — including their associated interest costs — account for almost half of the projected public debt in 2019 (measured as a share of the economy) if we continue current policies.”

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

This debt projection is instructive, although, as Kathy Ruffing and James R. Horney, also members of The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, point out, “Some lawmakers, pundits, and others continue to say that President George W. Bush’s policies did not drive the projected federal deficits of the coming decade — that, instead, it was the policies of President Obama and Congress in 2009 and 2010. But, the fact remains: the economic downturn, President Bush’s tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years ….” The debt projection may be instructive, but only those willing to evaluate the facts of the matter and then soundly draw conclusions from their evaluations will learn something pertinent about America’s economic predicament.

I guess the Washington elite along with their finance capital paymasters are not among those individuals capable of learning anything about the economy they regulate.

Related articles

• The Deficit Deals (andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com)
• Federal Spending, 2001-2008: Defense Is a Rapidly Growing Share of the Budget, While Domestic Appropriations Have Shrunk – Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (policyabcs.wordpress.com)
• Difference Between Obama and Bush foreign policy (culturaldiplomacynews.wordpress.com)
• CBO echoes Bernanke: Immediate spending cuts could hurt recovery (dailykos.com)
• The Republican Party: Budget Arsonists Wearing Fire Chief Hats (delong.typepad.com)
• Pawlnety’s Tax Cut Proposals Would Quadruple the Bush Tax Cuts (robertlindsay.wordpress.com)
• The reactionary reacts, but doesn’t act (verapoiesis.org)
• Obama Is Still Wanting To Plunge Our Country Even Deeper in Debt (rantsandrage.com)