Who Is Responsible For The Deficit? (Hint: Conservative Republican Presidents)

As I’ve pointed out many times in the past, if you want to reduce the deficit you should vote Democratic as, despite conservative rhetoric, it is conservative Republicans and not Democrats who are responsible for the deficit. James Fallows presented further evidence of this, taking data compiled by deficit hawk Chuck Spinney. Spinney compared the records of all presidents since Harry Truman, looking at both the change in the debt burden and how much overall federal debt grew, or shrank, as a share of gross domestic product during each administration. Here are his results:

The presidents responsible for the increased debt burden are in red: Reagan, Bush and Bush.

James Fallows

James Fallows – James Fallows is a National Correspondent for The Atlantic. A 25-year veteran of the magazine and former speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, he is also an instrument-rated pilot and a onetime program designer at Microsoft.

James Fallows is National Correspondent for The Atlantic. He has worked for the magazine for more than 25 years, based in Washington DC, Seattle, Berkeley, Austin, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, and most recently Beijing. He was raised in Redlands, California, received his undergraduate degree in American history and literature from Harvard, and received a graduate degree in economics from Oxford. In addition to working for the Atlantic, he has spent two years as chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, two years as the editor of US News & World Report, and six months as a program designer at Microsoft. He is an instrument-rated private pilot.

Fallows has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award five times and has won once; he has also won the American Book Award for nonfiction and has been an Emmy nominee for a documentary “Doing Business in China.” He was the founding chairman of the New America Foundation. His two most recent books, Blind Into Baghdad (2006) and Postcards from Tomorrow Square (2009) are based his writings for The Atlantic. He is married and has two sons.

Where Did Our Debt Come From?

Thumbnail image for SpinneyTime.jpgChuck Spinney

Quote of the Day

“I think the name of the Sarah Palin show is s**t my ex-governor says.” –David Letterman

Update: More from Letterman on Sarah Palin’s show:

“Sarah Palin has a new show. She takes viewers all around Alaska, and shows them where she water-boarded Levi Johnston.” –David Letterman

“A show with Sarah Palin? Did we run out of Kardashians?” –David Letterman

“John McCain makes an appearance on Palin’s show. He wasn’t scheduled, he just wanders through.” –David Letterman