Obama lowered the Deficit by $361 Billion.

Obama cut the deficit and slowed spending to lowest level in 50 years.

When Bush entered the white house, the annual budget had a $236 Billion surplus.
When he left, the budget had a $1.4 Trillion annual deficit.

Since then, Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion, by next year $977 Billion

Not only has the president cut the deficit by $312 billion during his first term (so far), but he's cut the deficit by $200 billion in the past year alone. And the CBO projected that the 2013 Obama budget, if enacted as is, would shrink the deficit to $977 billion -- a four year total of nearly $500 billion in deficit reduction.

This country does have a spending problem, we're still adding a trillion to the national debt every year but is the president's spending out of control? Is he increasing spending? Absolutely not. Despite what republicans are trying to pin on him, he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit. and it makes me think that if we didn't have the Wallstreet collapse in 2008, the deficit would have been much lower.

What changed?
In 2010, Obama signed the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act, which mandates that new spending be offset with spending cuts or new revenue. In other words, every bill passed MUST be paid for. So something like the Bush tax cuts - which included no compensation for lose of revenue couldn't have pass.

Ironically, not a single republican voted for this bill...

I wonder how much of that decrease is due to legislation (Obama hasn't been able to get that much done due to Republicvnt obstructionism) as opposed to the fact that the economy is in much better shape now than when Bush left.

I wonder how much of that decrease is due to legislation (Obama hasn't been able to get that much done due to Republicvnt obstructionism) as opposed to the fact that the economy is in much better shape now than when Bush left.

Barbariser

It doesn't matter. The Paygo Act he passed in 2010 mandates ALL bills must be offset by revenue. So spending either stays the same or lowers deficit.For example, He's big American Jobs Act he tried to pass last year and was denied by the Republicans, was offset by tax increases and closed loop holes.

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

limpbizkit818

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

General_X

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

limpbizkit818

Do you have any idea how hard it is to lower the deficit during a recession? It's easy to bring it up, hard to bring it down. Even Romney/Ryan admitted that they won't balance the budget by 2016 and Obama only promised to cut in half by 2012 (he only managed 20%)

Romney current plan promises to balance the budget by 2022.

I said this country has a spending problem, but Obama's not the problem. We're clearly heading in the right direction when it comes to spending.

Hmmm, but how has he handled the overall debt? He added to that by a considerable amount.

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

limpbizkit818

Hmmm, but how has he handled the overall debt? He added to that by a considerable amount.

ristactionjakso

If there's a deficit, of course the debt will increase.

Regardless of who is in the white house, the debt would have increased by 1 trillion every year.

The national debt will increase by another 3 trillion by 2016 whether Romney or Obama is in the white house. There is nothing anyone can do about the national debt right now other than try to balance the annual budget.

[QUOTE="General_X"][QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

limpbizkit818

Obama added 6 trillion dollars to the debt in 4 years.

That's more than twice as much as Bush did in 8 years.

But the fact that he lied about the attack being caused by a youtube video, and is now saying that he never blamed the youtube video, . .

. . . makes him the slimiest liar that's sat in that office in more than 100 years.

He's disgusting.

This was the NASA funding that he cut.

Obama added 6 trillion dollars to the debt in 4 years.

That's more than twice as much as Bush did in 8 years.

But the fact that he lied about the attack being caused by a youtube video, and is now saying that he never blamed the youtube video, . .

. . . makes him the slimiest liar that's sat in that office in more than 100 years.

He's disgusting.

Born_Lucky

Obama added 6 trillion dollars to the debt in 4 years.

That's more than twice as much as Bush did in 8 years.

He's disgusting.

Born_Lucky

The single fact that Bush had a surplus completely invalidates this comparison.

Obama started with a deficit, Bush did not. If there is a deficit, it's expected for the debt to increase by the deficit * X years regardless of who is president.

By all means, tell me what was the perfered increase in debt from 2008 to 2012 were you expecting with a 1.4 trillion Deficit?

Handling budget is far more important than the national debt. The budget is what's controls it. By comparison, the Obama administration have been far more fiscally responsible than the Bush administration.

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

-Sun_Tzu-

Some people set their standards far too low.....

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"][QUOTE="General_X"]I think you're giving the presidential position a little to much credit if you think that one man can erase a $1.4 Trillion dollar deficit. I'm happy to see that it is moving in the right direction, and I hope it will continue to do so. The only real way to completely erase the deficit is massive cooperation amongst the major branches of government, and I think we all know that will likely never happen as long as everyone in congress remains so entrenched along their party lines.General_X

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

limpbizkit818

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

General_X

Only one.

[spoiler] [/spoiler]

You're naive if you think Ron Paul would single handedly eliminate the deficit.

"during the George W. Bush years (2001-08), federal outlays averaged 19.6 percent of GDP, a little less than during the Clinton years (1993-2000), at 19.8% and far below Reagan, whose outlays never dropped below 21 percent of GDP in any year and averaged 22.4%. Even factoring in the TARP year (2009), Bushs average outlays as a proportion of the economy was 20.3 percent far below Reagan and only a half-point below Clinton. As for Obama, even excluding 2009, his spending has averaged 24.1 percent of GDP the highest level for any three years since World War II".

Now Obama' high spending per GDP may be due to a lower GDP rather than more spending (though it is likely a combination of both).

Also the TC's graph shows that Obama has cut "growth in spending" , not spending per se.

Also when people criticize Bush for the growth in spending that occurred under him, it is somewhat unfair considering that a lot of that is due to national security (in fact the Clinton Administration wanted to hire more intelligence and counter-terrorism personnel, but Congress wouldn't allocate the funding. After 9/11 Congress allocated the funding and Bush hired these personnel).

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

limpbizkit818

It should be pointed out that the deficit has been at or above $1 Trillion dollars every year Obama was president (though some of that is due to the poor economy). The only year Bush had a deficit above $1 Trillion is FY 2009 (which started during Bush's administration but ended during the Obama Administration, So Bush and Obama shared responsibility for that one. The big leap between FY 2009's $1.4 Trillion deficit and FY 2008's $859 billion deficit is due to actions taken by Bush and Obama to deal with the recession and the financial collapse).

Also, circumstances and Congress play their role, not just the President. Bush's Plan in 2007 would've eliminated the deficit by 2012, but circumstances prevented that.

This is a very interesting report considering I was just reading thiswhich says the deficit has increased by 5.5 trillion since 2009. While Obama increased spending by 11% in those 3 years (policies that were started under Bush contributed an additional 4% increase) and Obama decreased the government's revenue by 13% in the 3 years (Bush decreased revenue by 11%) and the rest of the increase in deficit and reduction of revenue can be contributed to other sources, that's a far different statement than Obama lowered the defict by $361 billion. The numbers add up to him at least contributing a 24% increase in the debt through his policies alone, other discretionary spending of course outpacing him.

Just pointing that one out.

The last President to lower the deficit was Clinton. It would have continued through Bush if 9/11 never happened nor the recession. It's not any one president's fault that our deficit continues to increase.

This is a very interesting report considering I was just reading thiswhich says the deficit has increased by 5.5 trillion since 2009. While Obama increased spending by 11% in those 3 years (policies that were started under Bush contributed an additional 4% increase) and Obama decreased the government's revenue by 13% in the 3 years (Bush decreased revenue by 11%) and the rest of the increase in deficit and reduction of revenue can be contributed to other sources, that's a far different statement than Obama lowered the defict by $361 billion. The numbers add up to him at least contributing a 24% increase in the debt through his policies alone, other discretionary spending of course outpacing him.

Just pointing that one out.

The last President to lower the deficit was Clinton. It would have continued through Bush if 9/11 never happened nor the recession. It's not any one president's fault that our deficit continues to increase.

Wasdie

Also, when the Huffpost (which I think is a liberal site), claims that Obama reduced the deficit by $361 billion they are comparing the current deficit ($1.1 Trillion for FY 2012) with the $1.4 Trillion Deficit of FY 2009 (FY 2009 deficit was so large due to the economic crisis and Bush's and Obama's "bailouts"). Now if we compared the deficit from FY 2012 to that of FY 2008 (The last deficit that accrued solely during the Bush Administration, a deficit which was also the highest of the Bush Administration, except for FY 2009).

Also it should be clearly pointed out: Obama increased spending, but he decreased the rate at which spending increased. This is a big difference. Here is a scenario to illustrate this. Last say this year you spent 20% more than you did last year, but last year you spent 25% more than you did the year before. That is an increase in spending but a decrease in spending growth.

I'll never understand why people care more about the deficit than the jobs situation.Abbeten

[QUOTE="Abbeten"]I'll never understand why people care more about the deficit than the jobs situation.whipassmt

Thats easy when you take away ****ing spaceships.

[QUOTE="whipassmt"]

[QUOTE="Abbeten"]I'll never understand why people care more about the deficit than the jobs situation.Abbeten

[QUOTE="Abbeten"][QUOTE="whipassmt"] a better jobs situation would actually lower the deficit (more tax revenue, less welfare and unemployment spending).

whipassmt

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

limpbizkit818

Thanks for making it clear you're unable to comprehend the topic.

Obama reduced yearly spending on useless programs Bush inacted, meaning the USA spends $300 billion less every year.
Considering the US is $16 trillion in debt, and creditors around the globe are scared to invest in a dying country, Obama's doing a good job to save you.

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

Nibroc420

Thanks for making it clear you're unable to comprehend the topic.

Obama reduced yearly spending on useless programs Bush inacted, meaning the USA spends $300 billion less every year.
Considering the US is $16 trillion in debt, and creditors around the globe are scared to invest in a dying country, Obama's doing a good job to save you.

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

Nibroc420

Thanks for making it clear you're unable to comprehend the topic.

Obama reduced yearly spending on useless programs Bush inacted, meaning the USA spends $300 billion less every year.
Considering the US is $16 trillion in debt, and creditors around the globe are scared to invest in a dying country, Obama's doing a good job to save you.

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]

[QUOTE="limpbizkit818"]

-Obama has lowered the deficit to $1.1 Trillion

-he did a pretty damn good job handling the deficit

:lol:

Yes, thank you Obama for only running a $1.1 trillion deficit. Lets reelect you.

-Sun_Tzu-

Thanks for making it clear you're unable to comprehend the topic.

Obama reduced yearly spending on useless programs Bush inacted, meaning the USA spends $300 billion less every year.
Considering the US is $16 trillion in debt, and creditors around the globe are scared to invest in a dying country, Obama's doing a good job to save you.

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"]

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]

Thanks for making it clear you're unable to comprehend the topic.

Obama reduced yearly spending on useless programs Bush inacted, meaning the USA spends $300 billion less every year.
Considering the US is $16 trillion in debt, and creditors around the globe are scared to invest in a dying country, Obama's doing a good job to save you.

Nibroc420

Interest rates on government debt continue on in the negatives.Abbeten

Uhh what?

"Borrow money, dont pay interest, get paid interest!"

What sort of BS troll logic are you going on about?
Negative interest on debt?

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"]

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]

Thanks for making it clear you're unable to comprehend the topic.

Obama reduced yearly spending on useless programs Bush inacted, meaning the USA spends $300 billion less every year.
Considering the US is $16 trillion in debt, and creditors around the globe are scared to invest in a dying country, Obama's doing a good job to save you.

Nibroc420

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"][QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"] No creditor is scared to lend money to the US government.

-Sun_Tzu-

[QUOTE="Abbeten"]

Interest rates on government debt continue on in the negatives.Nibroc420

Uhh what?

"Borrow money, dont pay interest, get paid interest!"

What sort of BS troll logic are you going on about?
Negative interest on debt?

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"]

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"] Yet the credit rating continues to drop...Nibroc420

[QUOTE="Nibroc420"]

[QUOTE="Abbeten"]

Interest rates on government debt continue on in the negatives.-Sun_Tzu-

Uhh what?

"Borrow money, dont pay interest, get paid interest!"

What sort of BS troll logic are you going on about?
Negative interest on debt?

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="Nibroc420"]

Uhh what?

"Borrow money, dont pay interest, get paid interest!"

What sort of BS troll logic are you going on about?
Negative interest on debt?

Nibroc420