CRITICAL: Tracing The Deficit--It's Bush's Fault

For anyone remotely interested in national politics, the Washington Post buried an incredibly important economic analysis deep inside its "A" section yesterday.

Entitled, "Doing The Math On Obama's Deficits," the article, by Ezra Klein, analyzes the federal government's recent budget deficits to determine what proportion came from policies of George W. Bush, and what from Obama.  [There's also a follow-up today, here.]

What we find is that since W Bush became President in 2001, his policies have added $5.1 trillion to the national debt, while Obama's policies have added $983 billion.  And that's generous, because the analysis tagged Obama for $620 billion for the two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts.

All told, the Bush tax cuts have added about $2.5 trillion to the national debt since being enacted.

Let's not forget that when Bush took office, he inherited a budget surplus of more than $200 million per year.

So when the Republicans label Obama as fiscally reckless, let's look at the facts.  Can our nation afford another period of Republican rule?  Borrow and spend is not good policy.