Two Main Deficit Facts
- It took off under Bush, because the recession caused it.
- Almost half of it is caused by people and business paying less taxes (because they have less income to tax).
Specifics
- Income tax payments dropped 51% for corporations and 23% for people. So the government had to borrow.
- Bush signed the FY 2009 budget and the TARP bank bailout.
- But, the Recession itself caused most of the deficit.
- Obama’s job stimulus barely got started before the FY 2009 budget ended on Sept. 30, and by then the deficit had exploded.
Now see the three reasons spending has increased.
