Facebook anti Obama posting!

[murray hill farm]

It says..."Debt under the last 43 presidents combined=6.3 Trillion. Debt under Obama in one term=6.5 Trillion" I really, really want a good response to that one. Can onyone help?

[wtmusic]

1. Sounds about right.

Here's your response: Raise corporate taxes, eliminate loopholes like the ones which allow Bank of America to pay no taxes at all, eliminate tax cuts for those making over $200,000 - and the problem is solved.

[GoCubsGo]

2. Ask for the souce of those numbers.

I suspect they won't be able to produce anything legitimate.

[RKP5637]

3. Whoever posted that on FB certainly doesn't understand math very well and

inflation + compounded interest over decades and decades. It's totally an apple and oranges statement, makes no sense at all.

[apriori51]

4. For Starters

The first 9 months of Obama's presidency was under Bush's budget. That's the case with every incoming president. Fiscal year begins in Oct. Obama has only increased the debt by 3.6 Trillion. Bush increased it by 5.5 Trillion.

[gateley]

5. And didn't the Bush Administration NOT include the cost of Iraq in its budget/debt? nt

[Drunken Irishman]

9. Yes. Obama put the war on the books, which inflated the numbers greatly.

[dems_rightnow]

15. The post is talking about debt.

The amount of debt isn't influenced by whether or not it's part of the budget.

[frazzled]

6. Just post this chart from the New York Times

?uuid=qZCizrbZEeCYzBMQCYwsyQ

And from Klein:

What’s also important, but not evident, on this chart is that Obama’s major expenses were temporary — the stimulus is over now — while Bush’s were, effectively, recurring. The Bush tax cuts didn’t just lower revenue for 10 years. It’s clear now that they lowered it indefinitely, which means this chart is understating their true cost. Similarly, the Medicare drug benefit is costing money on perpetuity, not just for two or three years. And Boehner, Ryan and others voted for these laws and, in some cases, helped to craft and pass them.

To relate this specifically to the debt-ceiling debate, we’re not raising the debt ceiling because of the new policies passed in the past two years. We’re raising the debt ceiling because of the accumulated effect of policies passed in recent decades, many of them under Republicans. It’s convenient for whichever side isn’t in power, or wasn’t recently in power, to blame the debt ceiling on the other party. But it isn’t true.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/obamas-and-bushs-effect-on-the-deficit-in-one-graph/2011/07/25/gIQAELOrYI_blog.html

Original story and graph in Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/sunday/24sun4.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[pnorman]

11. I was looking for that chart. THANKS!

[MFrohike]

7. Quick response

His math sucks. I thought the public debt was over 15 trillion now. 6.3 + 6.5 = 13.8. Tell him when he passes 1st grade math, he gets to comment on politics.

[Roselma]

8. graphs here:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/10/understanding-federal-debt-presidential-budgets-fiscal-year-edition/

Your friend is wrong.

[Drunken Irishman]

10. Thanks for posting that. Awesome site!

Remarkable how much misinformation is out there.

[Frustratedlady]

13. When you have FAUX News cranking disinformation out there 24/7, it doesn't take long.

Anyone know how many RW radio shows there are now? CNN is beginning to take on a hint of anti-Obama pro-RW rhetoric, as well.

Speaking of, when's the next debate/comedy show?

[JoePhilly]

12. Tell them, the GOP was wrong, and Bush's wars weren't FREE.

[murray hill farm]

14. Thank you all so much!

Great info here on DU! Thank you!

[kewhawaii]

16. Appalling hypocrisy

As others have noted, Bush's tax cuts and unpaid wars contributed greatly to the debt. But the risible fallacy in all this is the effort of the RW to try and pin it all on Obama, as if those tax cuts, which remain in effect, should not be attributed to Bush. The bill for those wars is still unpaid. But now that Obama is in the white house, Republicans want people to think that he is responsible. Republicans were very supportive of the tax cuts when they were implemented. They didn't give a shit about the growing debt, b/c Republican leaders mostly didn't want to bring it up. Now that Obama is there, they want a simpleton electorate to believe, as apparently many do, that Obama's stimulus spending is the reason. It amazes me that many people believe that the budgetary impact of the Bush tax cuts was somehow a one time affair, it is all over, and that Obama should not be trying to blame Bush because Bush is out of office, so how could the debt be his problem? Silly Dems.

I don't have a link with me now, but there are a few graphs floating around which show that the Bush tax cuts are the single biggest reason for the increased federal debt. And it was overwhelmingly Republicans who wanted those tax cuts to remain in effect. They knew what was happening; they came through for the rich, and their Wall Street benefactors, and then they could rail against the national debt and blame it on liberals wasting taxpayers money.