Friday, February 3, 2012

In Case It's Not Yet Clear



[Click image, and you know what'll happen, right?]

This is old news to anyone who gets theirs from any source other than Fox. Given the power of that particular disperser of disinformation, however, it never hurts to be reminded. For full understanding of the above graphic, it's important to read the article in which it appears. The methodology is thoughtful and, if anything, errs on the side of attributing costs to Obama.

How much has Obama added to the debt, anyway?

There are two answers: more than $4 trillion, or about $983 billion. The first answer is simple and wrong. The second answer is more complicated but a lot closer to being right.

When Obama took office, the national debt was about $10.5 trillion. Today, it’s about $15.2 trillion. Simple subtraction gets you the answer preferred by most of Obama’s opponents: $4.7 trillion.

But ask yourself: Which of Obama’s policies added $4.7 trillion to the debt? The stimulus? That was just a bit more than $800 billion. TARP? That passed under George W. Bush, and most of it has been repaid.

There is a way to tally the effects Obama has had on the deficit. Look at every piece of legislation he has signed into law. Every time Congress passes a bill, either the Congressional Budget Office or the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the effect it will have on the budget over the next 10 years. And then they continue to estimate changes to those bills. If you know how to read their numbers, you can come up with an estimate that zeros in on the laws Obama has had a hand in.

Aye, there's the rub. Such things take a willingness to understand, and, for teabaggRs, a departure from preferred answers when the facts lead that way. So, being reality, it's not gonna change the minds of those who prefer the RWS™ narrative.

Meanwhile, in the same vein, today's news of a significant uptick in jobs and downtick in unemployment will be in need of serious topspin from those (read: every RWS™, every R candidate, still standing and not, every teabagger) claiming that the stimulus failed. (Like every other thinking person, I recognize it didn't work well enough or fast enough, and criticism on those grounds is fair. As is acknowledgement of the reason: Obama, maddeningly, continued to believe, well past the irrefutable evidence against it, that he could bring Congressional Rs on board by moving just one more step toward their ever-receding goalposts, watering down both the stimulus and the Affordable Care Act. As he underestimated the depth of the financial crisis, so did he overestimate -- ie, thinking there was any at all -- the willingness of Rs to do what was right for the country, as opposed to thinking only of themselves.)


3 comments:

  1. Better check that Aricept expiration date Sid...
    and did you ever see a Surgeon burn himself with the cautery?, still makes me laugh...
    And BTW, his Nappy-Ness had a DemoKKKrat House AND Senate his first 2 years.
    Actually, the Senates still controlled by that waterhead from Nevada.
    Cause I thought it was the Bush Tax Cuts, wait, they expired over a year ago,
    The OBAMA Tax cuts that caused most of the daficit.
    You know, those E-ville Unfair Tax Cuts that let minimum wage coolies pay only %10 on there measley wages instead of the %15 Clinton stuck em with...
    and when you add the true FICA rate of 14%, factor in regressive sales, tobacco, alcohol, gas taxes that means your average Jose-Seis-Dos-Secis pays.....
    and all his Muslim-ness had to do was ummm..
    actually nothing, which he does pretty well, like letting the SEALS kill a fellow practitioner of "His Muslim Faith"* and those Burger Flippers would be payin there fair share..

    Frank

    "John McCain has not talked about My Muslim Faith"
    President Barak Hussein Obama, September 8th, 2008 "ABC This Week"

    ReplyDelete
  2. His Nappyness? waterhead? e-ville unfair taxes...

    Frank, what is wrong with you? Seriously, do you have a diagnosis? You know, if you disagree that's fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and we all must make allowances for the mentally damaged. But please, at least try to be coherent sometimes?

    Mike

    ReplyDelete
  3. Day-am Bro(Mike, looks like someone rode the Short Bus...
    OK., there's a reason Cliff's Notes still in business.

    1*:"His Nappyness": A joking referral to the Presidents Bad Hair. Hey, ya'll(Southern Colloquism for "You all")think Trump's hair is fair game.

    2*:"Waterhead" Un-PC term for those unfortunate sufferers of Hydro-Cephalism, also used as Derogotory term for a slow dimwitted oaf, i.e., the distinguished slow dimwitted oaf from Nevada.

    3*: "E-ville Unfair Taxes" The current system which taxes minimum wage slaves at the same rate as rich bastards like Me and Sid,
    well Me anyway...
    Said System which has remained unchanged for all 3+ years of President-For-God-Sakes-Man-Use-Some-Afro-Sheen-O-Bama.

    Frank

    PS, it was the former distinguished Gentleman from M-Ass-a-chussetts, who BTW left a young woman to asphyxiate(NOT drown, there's a difference) who called The President "Osama".
    I know, he had a Brain Tumor...

    ReplyDelete

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