Spin Dry

Roll Up
Roll up for The Mystery Tour
--The Beatles

Over the past couple of days, I've heard President Obama and his administration claim that they 'inherited' a $1.3 trillion deficit from the Bush Administration.

Not sure where the president is getting his numbers from. His own Office of Management and Budget pegs the budget deficit at $459 billion in 2008, Bush's last year (see Table 1 here). Under the Obama administration, the deficit ballooned to $1.4 trillion in 2009 and is estimated at $1.6 trillion this year.

Per the OMB, then, the deficit has nearly quadrupled under the Obama administration.

Why media gives this stuff a free pass is one of those mysteries...

Furthermore, President Obama continues to suggest that the severity of our economic problems was unforeseeable ahead of time and that the problem was not of his making. Of course, many did see this problem coming as it was a mile wide. The unpredictable thing was the timing--i.e., when the problem would begin to express itself.

Moreover, few problems that administrations encounter are purely of their making. But pointing the finger soley at the immediately preceeding administration is usually intellectually dishonest, as underlying causes are likely linked to decisions made during administrations many generations past. For example, our current economic malaise can easily be linked to decisions made 70-100 years ago.

Each administration is presented with the opportunity to reverse these decisions and the problems they've caused if the adminstration has the political will to do so. Unfortunately, few if any choose this path. Instead, it is more likely that administrations will act in a manner that escalates problems.

Thus, just as the Bush Administration decided to escalate the conditions of spending and debt that underpin our economic issues, the Obama Administration has chosen to do the same.

The magnitude and severity of the problem is merely much larger than before.