The Democrats’ Deficit Deception

PREMISE: Give the majority of the credit and/or blame to the party which had majority control…
i.e. the party which held a majority (2+ out of 3) of the House, Senate, and Presidency.

12 years of GOP majorities (1/3/1995-1/3/2007) left us with:
Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR): 66.4%
Unemployment 4.4%
Employment: 63.4% (144 consecutive months ≥ 62%)
FY 2007 deficit: 1.1% of GDP
Total National Debt: $8.7 Trillion

7¾ years of Democrat majorities (1/3/2007-Present) have brought us:
Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR): 62.7%
Unemployment 5.9% (would be 11.1% if LFPR was still 66.4%)
Employment: 59.0% (61 consecutive months ≤ 59%)
FY 2014 deficit (as estimated by the OMB): 3.7% of GDP ( > 3 TIMES the last Republican deficit!)
FY 2014 deficit (as estimated by the CBO): 2.8% of GDP ( > 2.5 TIMES the last Republican deficit!)
Total National Debt: $17.9 Trillion (more than doubled in less than 8 years!)

12 straight years of Republican majorities left us in a much better position than 7¾ straight years of Democrat majorities.

Since Senator Reid & the Democrats took majority control on 1/3/2007:
Employment-Population Ratio: ↓ 4.4 points
Average FY Deficit: ↑ 700%
New Debt: ↑ $9.2 TRILLION

Average Fiscal Year Deficit as % of GDP:
=================================
Post-WWII…..  FY 1947-1995: 1.8% of GDP
GOP Majority  FY 1996-2007: 0.8% of GDP (↓56%)
DEM Majority FY 2008-2014: 6.4% of GDP (↑700%)

Data Source: White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2015/assets/hist01z2.xls

Republican majorities decreased average FY deficits by 56%.

Democrat majorities increased average FY deficits by 700%.

And looking more closely at the last 3 years of the Republican majority and first two years of the Democrat majority:

Republican majorities decreased the deficit as a % of GDP 68% in 3 years (from 3.4% in FY 2004 down to 1.1% in FY 2007)

Democrat majorities increased the deficit as a % of GDP 791% in 2 years (from 1.1% in FY 2007 to 9.8% in FY 2009)

Democrats are responsible for increasing the FY deficit by nearly 800% in their first two years, dishonestly blaming that all on Bush, trying to use that as their new baseline, and then dishonestly claiming that they are great deficit reducers!

The OMB estimates FY 2014 deficit at 3.7% of GDP. That is MORE THAN 3 TIMES THE SIZE of the last Republican deficit!

And even at the CBO’s FY 2014 deficit estimate of 2.8% of GDP, Democrat majorities are STILL running deficits that are more then TWO AND A HALF TIMES THE SIZE of the last Republican-majority budget deficit!

The last Republican-majority budget deficit was produced by a Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican President in 2006 for FY 2007, with a deficit of 1.1% of GDP.

Remember that.  The last time a Republican House, Senate, and President passed a budget and appropriations, the TOTAL (on-budget PLUS off-budget) DEFICIT was 1.1% of GDP.

Have you seen propaganda like this?

"When I took office, the deficit was nearly 10% of our economy. Today, it’s under 3%." —President Obama #AmericaLeads pic.twitter.com/OQr6ex9rzi

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) October 9, 2014

The great Democrat Deficit Deception is based on:

1) IGNORE the fact that the last budget produced by a Republican House, Republican Senate, and signed by Bush was passed in 2006 for FY 2007 and had a deficit under $161 Billion, representing 1.1% of GDP.

2) BLAME BUSH (one man in the MINORITY party) for the nearly tripled FY 2008 deficit (3.1% of GDP) produced by the Nancy Pelosi House and Harry Reid Senate, then signed (not vetoed) by Bush.

3) BLAME BUSH (one man who was in the MINORITY party for LESS THAN 1/3 of the Fiscal Year) for a bill produced by Nancy Pelosi House and Harry Reid Senate, then signed (not vetoed) by Bush on 9/30/2008, which contained a Continuing Resolution to fund the first few months of FY 2009 (which began on 10/1/2008) at the same monthly funding levels as FY 2008.

4) BLAME BUSH for saying “Yes” when Obama asked Bush to request the second half ($350 Billion) of the TARP money on 1/13/2009. Bush is to get all of the blame, even though Obama asked for, and received, all of the $350 Billion.

5) BLAME BUSH for ALL FY 2009 deficit and spending, including all of the following which were produced by Nancy Pelosi House and Harry Reid Senate, then signed by BARACK OBAMA, NOT Bush!!!

On 2/17/09, Obama signed the $831B AARA

On 3/11/09, Obama signed the $410B OAA

On 6/24/09, Obama signed the multi-$B SAA, including “Cash For Clunkers”

ALL FY 2009 appropriations were passed by the Nancy Pelosi House of Representatives.

ALL FY 2009 appropriations were passed by the Harry Reid Senate.

Well over 2/3 of the FY 2009 appropriations were asked for and/or signed by Barack Obama.

Yet Democrats want to dishonestly BLAME BUSH for ALL of the FY 2009 deficit (9.8% of GDP)!!

Anyone who tries to “Blame Bush!” for the FY 2009 deficit is being incredibly dishonest.

The overwhelming majority of responsibility for the FY 2009 deficit belongs to Democrats: Pelosi, Reid, and Obama.

And any claims of “deficit reduction” by Democrats are clearly deception when:

FY 2014 deficit (as estimated by the OMB): 3.7% of GDP ( > 3 TIMES the last Republican deficit!)
FY 2014 deficit (as estimated by the CBO): 2.8% of GDP ( > 2.5 TIMES the last Republican deficit!)

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UPDATE: This type of deception has been foisted by Democrats for several years now.
Here is an example from 2012, and my response to it:

Rex Nutting and the Obama Lie
Posted on May 25, 2012

Comments that I made to Rex’s Market Watch post were deleted, and my ID was banned.

Rex Nutting Can’t Handle the Truth
Posted on May 30, 2012

Those who can’t handle the truth,
try to silence those who speak it.