Obama has been cutting spending

I don't have any information in addition to what is in the chart, but if I was to guess, I'd bet a lot of the spendning cuts come from winding down two wars.

Deficit without Bus factors

A close look at the American economy

The following rather represents the (far-less cohesive) impression I have had of the U.S. economy over the past couple of years.  I like that this gentleman says it all so elegantly.


Source. (read more): (via John McCarter on Daily Kos - my link to this post is broken)

Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, has an important post on the NYTime's Economix blog, challenging the predominant austerity narrative.

The United States faces some serious medium-term fiscal issues, but by any standard measure it does not face an immediate fiscal crisis. Overly indebted countries typically have a hard time financing themselves when the world becomes riskier — yet turmoil in the Middle East is pushing down the interest rates on United States government debt. We are still seen as a safe haven.

Nonetheless, leading commentators and politicians repeat the line “we’re broke” and argue that there is no alternative to immediate spending cuts at the national and state level....

The most immediate problem is that our largest banks and closely related parts of the financial system blew themselves up in 2007-8. The ensuing recession and associated loss of tax revenue will end up increasing our government debt, as a percentage of gross domestic product, by around 40 percent. Very little of this debt increase was due to the fiscal stimulus; mostly it was caused by lower tax revenue, because of the slump in output and employment....

The only room for bipartisan consensus here seems to be what we got in December 2010 — a big tax cut. Cutting taxes is nice, but only if it is consistent with keeping the budget on a sustainable path.... the problem here is bipartisan — as it was with the tax cut last year. None of the leadership on either side is willing to talk openly about how our biggest banks caused great fiscal damage. No one is willing to explain why our health care costs continue to rise. And no top politicians currently champion real tax reform.
The Republicans have seized a moment. To them, this is not really about fiscal responsibility; this is about an opportunity to shrink the size of government.

Both sides of our political elite have contributed to the sense of fiscal crisis. And as we continue down this path — dangerous big banks, out-of-control health care spending, significant tax cuts, small changes in nonmilitary discretionary spending and irresponsible rhetoric on both sides — we are well on our way to a real crisis.

Putrid President Bush - The Economy (News) (Commentary)

President Bush, our very own simple-minded "man in the White House," has screwed up just about everything he touched. This week CNN is doing a week-long series of stories on the economy and how deeply the current decline in the economy will reach. Bush is really, really working hard to reach for the title of "Worst President Ever."

Here's a summary of a lot of the economic woe that his policies have brought on. From Progress Report, March 17, 2008.

In a recent Wall Street Journal survey of the nation's top economists, 70 percent said the economy is in a recession and half said that "this year could be worse than the 2001 and 1990-91 downturns." "The evidence is now beyond a reasonable doubt," said one Wells Fargo & Co. senior economist. The Commerce Department also said last week that retail sales -- which account for more than 70 percent of U.S. economic activity -- fell 0.6 percent in February. Last month also saw the national unemployment rate increase as the Labor Department announced that the nation had lost 63,000 jobs -- the second consecutive monthly job decline. While the American public is in line with economists on the realities of the economy, President Bush has only recognized a "slowdown. " Bush recently acknowledged that the "root cause of the economic slowdown has been the downturn in the housing market." But in a speech last week, Bush echoed President Herbert Hoover's sentiments regarding government intervention into a struggling economy, saying he "strongly disagree[s]" with "massive government intervention in the housing market." Bush said in his Saturday radio address : "The market now is in the process of correcting itself, and delaying that correction would only prolong the problem."

Beyond job losses, a decrease in retail sales, and the housing market crisis , a Center for American Progress (CAP) economic outlook shows that wages remain flat, family debt has hit record highs, fewer people have health insurance, and an increasing number are paying more for basics. In addition to housing woes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month that the nation's credit crunch is also fueling the economy's downturn . Additionally, government spending is in the red. The Treasury Department announced last week that "the U.S. federal government ran a monthly budget deficit of $175.56 billion in February, a record for any month" and "46% bigger than the deficit of $119.99 billion in February 2007." Last week, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) illustrated that the federal debt incurred during Bush's presidency has reached $7.7 trillion. The value of the dollar is also in free fall, plunging below the 100 yen level last week for the first time in 12 years and "hitting a new low against the euro " today. Iraq war costs are reaching astronomical proportions, with projections ranging anywhere from $10-12 billion per month . The war has also helped oil prices skyrocket -- prices per barrel have recently reached record highs . Naturally, Bush has passed the buck. When asked during a recent interview about the rising oil prices, Bush deferred to "experts," saying: "I’m just a simple president ."

Budget Deficit to Soar

More on the economy. This piece from Progress Report, 1/24/2008...

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report yesterday on the U.S. budget and economic outlook. The CBO projects the 2008 fiscal year budget deficit to rise to $219 billion, up from $163 billion in 2007. Yet the report added that "'funding that is likely to be needed to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could add $30 billion to outlays this year," making its total budget deficit projection for 2008 at $250 billion. CBO also stated that "funding for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other activities in the war on terrorism expanded significantly in 2007," from $120 billion in 2006 to $171 billion in 2007. President Bush "has requested $193 billion for war-related purposes in 2008, of which $88 billion has been appropriated thus far." Congressional Democrats reportedly predict that the budget deficit could increase to as much as $350 billion.