Congressman: Three quarters of TOTAL US debt caused by Bsuh

[Liberty Star]

A forgot his name, a Congress member couple of days ago made this claim in a presentation on C-SPAN. Never heard this before, is this really true?

If so, was this Bush spening orgy mostly for Iraqi liberation and reconstruction or something else was accomplished during Bush regime's time?

 

[erowe1]

A forgot his name, a Congress member couple of days ago made this claim in a presentation on C-SPAN. Never heard this before, is this really true?

If so, was this Bush spening orgy mostly for Iraqi liberation and reconstruction or something else was accomplished during Bush regime's time?

There's no denying that Bush was horrible for our debt, not only for his foreign policy, but also for his domestic policy. But I think for someone to say that he's to blame for 3/4 of the total debt would require some serious special pleading. The debt went from something like $5.5 trillion when he took office to about $10 trillion when he left, and at least a portion of that increase is interest. So how he personally can be wholly responsible for $7.5 trillion of that $10 trillion debt I can't imagine.

 

[Liberty Star]

There's no denying that Bush was horrible for our debt, not only for his foreign policy, but also for his domestic policy. But I think for someone to say that he's to blame for 3/4 of the total debt would require some serious special pleading. The debt went from something like $5.5 trillion when he took office to about $10 trillion when he left, and at least a portion of that increase is interest. So how he personally can be wholly responsible for $7.5 trillion of that $10 trillion debt I can't imagine.

You're saying he caused about HALF of TOTAL US debt? I didn't know that either, that's still pretty high. Will try to lookup his numbers how he arrived at that conclusion.

Foreign policy blunder aside, GOP's platform is normally less domestic spending; what happened to that during Bush rule? Was domestic spending orgy motivated by Iraqi reconstruction also or there was some other reason for that massive flip flop?

This is mind boggling and certainly explains demise of GOP we're witnessing lately, few feeble cries lately about spending from GOP not withstanding.

 

[erowe1]

Foreign policy blunder aside, GOP's platform is normally less domestic spending

I'm afraid that's mostly a myth that the GOP is more than happy to have you and me believe. I do think Bush pursued a platform that was even worse than what many other Republicans would have, with his so-called compassionate conservatism. But even apart from that, Republicans as a whole are generally just not nearly as fiscally conservative, even just on domestic issues, as they would have you think.

 

[Liberty Star]

I'm afraid that's mostly a myth that the GOP is more than happy to have you and me believe. I do think Bush pursued a platform that was even worse than what many other Republicans would have, with his so-called compassionate conservatism. But even apart from that, Republicans as a whole are generally just not nearly as fiscally conservative, even just on domestic issues, as they would have you think.

Hard to disagree with that, good point.

 

[Ninja Homer]

A forgot his name, a Congress member couple of days ago made this claim in a presentation on C-SPAN. Never heard this before, is this really true?

If so, was this Bush spening orgy mostly for Iraqi liberation and reconstruction or something else was accomplished during Bush regime's time?

Bush was arguably the worst POTUS ever, but they're trying to make him the scapegoat for everything. If 3/4 of the debt was caused by Bush, then this congressman helped Bush do it... how many times did he vote to give Bush money? Congress could have shut down the spending at any time, but didn't. They all suck (except for a few) and they all need to be replaced because they took part in what Bush did and didn't do anything to stop it.

 

[Liberty Star]

bush was arguably the worst potus ever, but they're trying to make him the scapegoat for everything. If 3/4 of the debt was caused by bush, then this congressman helped bush do it... How many times did he vote to give bush money? Congress could have shut down the spending at any time, but didn't. They all suck (except for a few) and they all need to be replaced because they took part in what bush did and didn't do anything to stop it.

qft.

Congress members are fully complicit and responsible ( with few exceptions as you ntoed).

 

[Chirac's Poodle]

Interest on the national debt was over $450 billion in 2008 alone. Bush was in office for 8 years. I haven't run the numbers, but I'm quite sure that interest made up a substantial portion. I would make a very rough guess of at least $2 trillion.

 

[TCE]

Let's keep our eyes on the ball. Obama has already increased the debt by $2 trillion by the end of this year, and he has no intention of stopping.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Republicans had control of Congress under Bush so it was still his party (Congress writes the spending bills- not the President). Cutting taxes is nice but they need to be offset by reductions in spending but instead they cut taxes AND increased spending which made things worse.

 

[SimpleName]

Foreign policy blunder aside, GOP's platform is normally less domestic spending; what happened to that during Bush rule?

Yeah, I'm not sure if I am just creating liberal propaganda up in my head, but it is usually the other way around from what I remember. At least for the last several presidents. And nevermind Bush, his presidency was a massacre. He "only" spent around a trillion dollars on the Iraq & Afghanistan wars, so that extra 4 trillion was surely made up elsewhere. At least 2 trillion had to have gone to domestic policies.

But really, Bush looks like he was a savior in comparison to Obama. There is no end in sight (until we overturn Congress) to Obama's insane spending. Universal healthcare and Cap & Trade will probably obliterate Bush's crazy debt numbers. Bush added less than a trillion per year while Obama, if either of the above plans passes, will have added well over 2 trillion in just his first year. Horrifying fact to look at.

 

[Zippyjuan]

I do recall reading that the government under George Bush borrowed more money than ALL the previous presidents combined.