Short piece from Congressional Budget Office documenting causes for the increase in the deficit over the past 11 years
This two-pager gives the CBO’s latest estimates of what caused the increase in deficits in the past 11 years (for a bit of high-level discussion of the results, go here). For those interested in causality (i.e., which actions are responsible for changes in the deficit and national debt) this is a great place to dig into the data. Also see Ezra Klein’s recent article as well as my previous related posts from January 31, 2012 and August 24, 2011.
Bottom line: Before blaming a president for increases in the debt and deficit, you need to first understand what caused those increases and who is responsible for the decisions that led to that result. Just saying “the debt was X trillion when the president took office and Y trillion today” is at best misleading. The only accurate way to analyze the issue is to assess whose decisions contributed to the deficit and the associated increase in debt.
