The deficit problem can be summed up very simply: The public thinks Obama's policies created a huge deficit. Never mind that it was Bush's deficit -- the public doesn't know that. This misunderstanding is leading Washington to take steps that will throw the economy into depression.
According to Greenberg Quinlan Rosner | NPR Congressional Battleground Poll:
By 57 to 37 percent, voters in these 60 Democratic seats believe that President Obama's economic policies have produced record deficits while failing to slow job losses -- and not averted a crisis or laid a foundation for future growth.
The public believes the record deficits were caused by Obama's policies because:
1) Conservatives have pursued a strategic propaganda campaign to make the public believe this. They have used charts that show Bush's 2009 budget as Obama's, headlines that say this, repeatedly said it over the radio and conservative TV networks, etc.
2) The administration and supporters haven't responded to this campaign in any way, didn't seem to understand there even was a campaign to blame Obama for Bush's deficits, and now appear to believe it themselves.
Isn't this the story of the last few decades? Conservatives wage a strategic propaganda campaign to convince the public of XXX. Democrats don't respond, don't even understand there is a propaganda campaign being waged, and in time begin to support the conservative narrative.
But this time it is absolutely dead serious. The correct understanding of the cause of this deficit is absolutely crucial because doing the wrong thing now will throw the economy into depression.
The economy is on a precipice. Unemployment remains close to 10 percent with no help in sight and help for the unemployed running out. Economists are trying to tell Washington that more stimulus is needed, that it is crucial to directly create jobs, that the unemployed must receive checks and health care, and that cutting back now is exactly the wrong thing to do. Paul Krugman and others are becoming more and more alarmed about this. But with the public believing that the government is about to go broke, the political will cannot form for doing the right thing.
But there are perceptions and then there are facts. It is just a fact that the huge $1.4 trillion deficit was Bush's 2009 budget, and that "Obama spending" contributed very little to that deficit. It is just a fact that the cause of current economic trouble is that the "stimulus bill" was inadequate, and its focus on tax cuts was a wasted effort. It is just a fact that letting unemployment benefits expire and refusing to pass job-creation programs will force the economy to turn back down. This is a mistake in policy caused by an intentional engineering of false perceptions.
Sign up here for the CAF daily summary.
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
Follow Dave Johnson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dcjohnson
All presidents from Reagan forward have pursued an economic policy that has been geared to prevent the inevitable collapse from happening on that president's watch. Reagan is the president who began the process of liquidating the industrial base, creating liquidity that was then poured into a deregulated financial industry. The only difference now, with Obama's presidency, is that the dismantling of the real basis of the economy is complete, therefore the only way to create liquidity demanded by the bloated financial sector is through the government printing press.
Foregoing the blame game, further deficit spending will only ramp up and further the bubble economy we've been enduring at the expense of the real economy. So, are we going to keep adding to the house of cards we've built? Whether we do so or not there will be a collapse, but the collapse will be all that more disastrous the longer we pursue our present course.
But I'll give you this: We will never, ever have the retirement plans and ongoing health benefits that generation had. They're living off pensions and social security and Medicare for many more years than originally anticipated and it is indeed getting harder to pay for.
Obama doesn't seem to mind as long as SOMETHING passes; he considers it a "win".
The man has the bully pulpit and he won't use it, so everybody has to make excuses for him.
Bush left us with a $1.4 trillion deficit, triple the previous year. Obama is reducing it.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3036
Guess what, when a problem starts on your watch and someone else is stuck trying to fix it, you don't get to pass the blame for its origin along with the responsibility for its solution.
FYI: the "problem started on Bush's watch... all of them. try to pay attention to someone other than Glen Beck.
Other than that I agree, blame helps no one, it's cowardly
What about costs of wars that was not included anywhere?
I feel for our President, he totally inherited BUSH fouls. God bless President Obama.
The stimulus is being severely undercut as states and local governments work to align their spending with reduced revenues.
The stalemate will not be broken until people start making money again.
At the beginning of the aforementioned 28 year period, when Reagan was elected, the U.S. federal deficit stood at LESS than $1 trillion. At the end of that 28 year period, at the swearing in of Obama, the U.S. federal deficit stood at about $11 trillion dollars. America went from being the world's largest creditor nation, to being the world's largest debtor nation, almost exclusively during the three Republican administrations of Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II. The only times during the 28 years before Obama that we did not add to the federal deficit was when three balanced budgets were proposed to Congress during the administration of Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
I like to think of myself as a conservative person, fiscally speaking, and a liberal, in my personal affairs, which is why, in my opinion, the only choice I have is to vote for Democrats.
Whe other EU countries are raising taxes, VAT etc. the Republicans talk about cutting them - how can that possibly balance anything ? Who balances their checkbooks? Money has to go in before you write a check !
America needs a couple of years of austerity to lower GWB's debt and unfortunately the Dems will have to to the dirty work.
Taxes have to be collected efficiently to run state programs.
Why can't they do the math.
Great question. I've never seen a single person suggest that the wealthy be taxed to the point that their take home pay equals minimum wage, so I'm a bit confused as to the relevancy of the question.