For chart nerds, the Center on Budget Policy and Policy Priorities' image on what policies drive contemporary deficits is a genuine classic. It first appeared in 2009 and, relying solely on data from the Congressional Budget Office, made an immediate splash -- those wanting to know which policies are responsible for making up the deficit had everything they needed in a handy, colorful chart.
In time, wonks even came up with a nickname of it: the "parfait" chart.
The image proved to be so popular that the CBPP published revised versions several times, reflecting up-to-date budget figures. And late last week, the Center unveiled its latest -- and is it turns out, its final -- chart showing which policies are driving the deficits between now and the end of the decade.
And as the chart hopefully makes clear, Bush-era tax breaks continue to be the biggest chunk. This matters, of course, to the extent that there's an ongoing debate over how to reduce the deficit, and policymakers are looking for solutions.
I don't imagine Republicans want to hear this, but slashing investments in "Obamacare," education, aid to the poor, and foreign aid may advance a far-right vision, but these aren't the policies that are responsible for the existing budget shortfall.
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You could tattoo this on their chests and they still won't get it. Even the tingly, stinging feeling of a needle pricking the skin repeatedly won't even phase them.
Any chance to plaster this and explain it on the 6 O'Clock evening news?
Probably not, things like this never get past blogs like these unless there is a gun involved.
The Republicans practice the Hippocratic oath backwards.
First, do harm!
Second, Make it worse.
Third, double- down.
Fourth, blame it on the President.
Ditto
1.its Obama's fault
2.its because Obama.....
3.Obama.......
4.something obama did...
wait those libruls are still blaming Bush for what Obama did..
rinse and repeat
You mean the Obama tax breaks. He made absolutely sure those cuts were made permanent. Now he owns them.
Happy you foisted Bush's mess off on Obama, aren't you? That's been the Republican strategy all along.
Couldn't disagree more Shooter. Yes he did finalize them but had they never passed under Bush I find it highly unlikely Obama would have implemented them. It's QUITE disingenuous to blame Obama for tax cuts he did not initially pass. The deficit/debt created by those cuts were pretty solidly visible prior to the fiscal cliff deal. Further, if you're "blaming" those on Obama now your implicitly indicating that taxes should be a consideration in deficit reduction, if not then you're shamelessly trying to blame Obama for something that you think is a good idea solely to troll these forums. Either way you're kinda painted into a corner.
It is not that blaming Obama is the issue, it is showing that the current administration recognized the need for those continued tax cuts.
Also, why bring up the war, the tax cuts, tarp, etc...why not bring up increased spending in other areas? Seems the chart is bias in that way.
And now the government is broke. Congratulations.
I see...all liberals are getting government checks.
You really are an idiot.
Don't agree with Shooter about much, but he's right about this one. Obama could have simply let the Bush Tax Cuts expire by doing nothing. He not only re-newed them, he made them permanent. Please look at that chart again. The BIGGEST contributor to the deficit are those tax cuts. The hard truth that no one seems to want to tell the American people is this: You can't have the services you want, balance the budget AND pay lower taxes. No such thing as a free lunch. Somebody has to pay. Ignore that and face financial ruin.
Boy talk about leaving out a whole lot of information just to come up with a reality not based on anything more then what you want to believe. Guess some people just don't deal with reality until it slaps them in the face that they won't be able to afford that 2 seat out house.
And the shiiter gop give obama and the dems credit for passing the massive tax cuts right? it is not like they will go around whining about food stamps and free stuff , right?
When you give credit to people who stab you in the back , you end up with really @!$%#ed up legislation like obama rolls over , and signs off on , there is a pattern there ...the abused giving a thumbs up to the abusive liars , that will help smooth things out
The problem is people like "Van Roberto" who in spite of all evidence to the contrary continue to insist that runaway government spending, especially on "giveaways" is the source of our debt. That is not only demonstrably untrue, but focusing on the annual deficit and the total debt is irrelevant at this point. Government's focus should be on creating jobs, NOT on cutting spending. Creating jobs will require additional government spending, and that spending could easily be paid for, if that were a real issue, by tax reform that eliminates many tax expenditures that primarily benefit the very wealthy. This includes taxing hedge fund earnings at a low capital gains tax rate, and unreasonably low capital gains rates in general. Tax reform of this sort could raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue while increasing the progressivity of the tax code. Once we get job growth back on target we can put more focus on managing the debt, but to only focus on the debt at this time does have the potential for driving the economy back into recession.
Annie Oakley is right this one time. Obama does own these tax cuts along with Bush. Yes, he wanted income above $250,000.00 to get the old rates, but he must be judged on his earlier extention and the end result.
Let's modify the chart one more time.
Start the ten year run at 2013, with the Payroll tax increase and the increase on the 400K+ earners, then lump in the sequestoer and see how it looks. This chart is old and has been overdone, I'd like to see a better one.
Mr. Klein, would you please oblige? Your chart excellence is needed, here!
And did you forget WHY those tax cuts were signed again - because WE were taken hostage by the GOTP to avoid one of the first self-imposed (by GOTP) crises!
What has President Cry baby done in the last four years? He said he would end the wars? He hasn't so he owns it. He renewed the Bush tax cust ( to some). So he ownes that. Freddy and Fanny are the Brain child of Barney Frank ( the slobbering idiot). The dems own that, and last, but by for the biggest problem, is the President Dictator and emporors attack on the private sector is the reason for the economic down turn. Sounds like the community planner and Chief is in charge and owns it all. President Obama is Bush on steriods. Spends more money, sends more drone attacks, gives more to the lazy. Thus Bush on steriods.
Feel better now?
Twit!
chemdmd - I didn't know that Barney Frank was even a Congressman when Fannie & Freddie came into existence in 1938.
See what happens when you let others (Fox (news?) do the thinking for you?
"And as the chart hopefully makes clear, Bush-era tax breaks continue to be the biggest chuck."
And closing those tax loop-holes as suggested by the Senate dems and the progressive caucus would go quite a way towards shoring that up. Yet the GOTP still believe that bs walks and refuse to negotiate on closing those tax loop-holes that they once supported.....
We would have a budget surplus if we just went back to taxing the rich at 70% like we did before Reagan screwed up the works by giving the rich 50% tax cuts.
Kiplinger reported that that the top 10% of taxpayers (AGI greater than $116,000) paid 70% of federal income taxes- what more do you want?
You mean like Mr. "I paid 13% or 14%" Robme who has by the way off-shored money to keep from paying taxes on it?!
ST54, What I want is to live in a nation that doesn't have the kind of income inequality that you have to go to freaking Zimbabwe to find. Tax. The. Rich.
54, Have you seen the chart showing what percentage of the nation's wealth the top 10% own? I'll give you a hint. It starts with a 9 and ends with a 3. Then there is the problem that their income over the last 30 years has been constantly rising (almost 300% for the top 1%) while the rest of us have seen no increase at all. If they're only paying 70% of federal income taxes, then they need to have a couple of brackets added and the rates in their present brackets increased.
Come on folks , Paris Hilton needs 5 more cars and a new house , stop being so greedy , the maids at the hotels can take out $150,000 worth of student loans , if they are smart enough to go to school any way , other wise it is the soup kitchen for everyone else , sounds fair right?
Add Income Level Lines in the area of the Bush Era Tax Cuts, showing us who the beneficiaries are.
Since these Tax- Cuts are still with us we should be able to see resulting Economic Growth that justifies them?
No, they're not. They're about 600 point short of the record. Do some homework.
While the DOW is way up there, the DOW isn't a measure of economic growth. It measures how much money the market players have to gamble on the stock market and their willingness to speculate. No one actually believes that the present market is sustainable.
No, him and others contiue with the "free stuff" talkibg points abd I've ask many times for any one of them to name the "free stuff". And if you pay attention to all of shooters comments, you know he's serious about it. He may /snark/ but he is very serious. It shows in every comment.
We pay women to breed? Damn I didn't get mine! I think they were talking about yachts, airplanes, and money sent to the Caymen Islands. You know things that Corporations as people benefit from not the lowley middle class workers such as the many.
Tractorbeam, it should be in the package of "free stuff" you received. Not a woman, so I didn't get it, but there was a line for it in the itemized breakdown of the stuff.
Hopefully the sequester doesn't go on too long, so I won't have much of a reduction in my monthly free stuff.
/snark
You keep repeating those right wing talking points, but when ask about what "free stuff" not one of you clowns reply back. And none have provide any proof of "free stuff". Put up or STFU
Larry, you're referring to Shooter242 who always talks about the "party of free stuff." I was making fun, hence the "/snark" notation.
RePugniCants are not really interested in cutting spending; they like spending and they do it well. It is ALL about advancing the far-right vision. PERIOD.
All are douchbags...can I say that, or can only John Kerry's wife call people douchbags? Well, anyhow, those douchbags in Washington are to blame....and if you think that's bad...what do you call the people that voted for them? Hmmm
There you go again with facts and figures, it figures! We must cut the entitlements! We have to quit helping the tax payers with SSI that they paid for and medicaid that keeps them from getting sicker. We must stop feeding the poor slobs that can't afford to feed the family on minimum wage.
Anything but of course cuts to the military industrial complex or war or gifts to the oil industry. We can least of all afford to raise taxes on the rich or try to get corporations to pay taxes. After all capitalism requires giving all the breaks to those who make all the money. Only communistic socialists would want to actually take us back to the days when the wealthy were expected to pay the taxman rather than lobbyists and congressmen!
Unfortunately the chart shows that the Bush era tax cuts, now mostly made permanent under President Obama, are the biggest cause of the expanding debt on into the future. Repubs are fond of saying we can't tax our way of this, but that should really be stated as we WON'T tax our way out of this. No one--most certainly not the President--was willing to raise taxes on anyone except the super wealthy, but had all of the tax rates been increased, we'd have gotten the $4 trillion, no? Cutting those taxes was really a "starve the beast" plan and given that the sequester is now going to cut expenditures by $1.2 trillion with those tax cuts in place, who's laughing now? Government is being downsized just like Grover Norquist wants.
It does seem odd how we sat back and let these bums continue to gift the rich. Those tax cuts were a big mistake.
What is happening now is simple, they are going to force every state to raise taxes. The States have several ways to do this like, raising sales taxes,property taxes,income taxes, fees on everything from sewers to tolls for roads and the list will grow now. They know you and I are not going to take the time to add up all the different taxes we pay-just like they know we failed to show how public health-care works by showing how much less people with socialized medicine actually pay for their health-care. They counted on us to disassociate the cost of health insurance and out of pocket expense on health-care from taxes.
Oh well we deserve to be fooled since we refuse to either research the facts or to speak out.
Ten years ago, we were worried that we would eliminate the deficit entirely. What happened? Tax cuts and record spending in unneeded wars.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/10/21/141510617/what-if-we-paid-off-the-debt-the-secret-government-report
There's nothing stopping any Congress from returning to Clinton-era tax rates once the economy is on a more solid footing. The end of the SS tax "holiday", while necessary, was a bad enough hit to the economy. At this point in the recovery, we don't want to do anything more to jeopardize its continuance.
That's what Republicans are for...
If you were to show this chart to a class of average 6th graders, and asked them, based on the chart, what their solution(s) for cutting the debt would be, I bet that you would get a reasonable response 9 times out of 10. The U.S. congress? Not so much...
This charts debt not deficits.
I think this lays things out pretty well. -- Mark
You're all blind idiots here. I voted for Obama, both times--and even I now can see that in truth, the sequester and ALL the financial crises we have approached for the past three years or more, have been carefully designed and executed by BOTH PARTIES. Yes. Put down your party flags and THINK about it, and you'll know I'm right. There's nothing else that can explain the actions undertaken by both the WH and the GOP-led Congress. Congress could have voted to repeal the sequester; Obama could have found a way around it. While seemingly at war with one another, they really agreed to these severe austerity measures, and for them to happen in just this way. Why, you may ask? Because then they can each blame the other for them, knowing that the majority of the sheeple will go along with them, and continue the usual in-fighting with one another, backing their respective "team" and blaming everything bad on the "other side" and taking credit for all the "good." They believe we'll continue to do this, and ignore what's really going on. And what do you know? It's been working! WE'VE ALL BEEN HAD!! It's time to wake up to reality now, and take action! VOTE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM OUT who is not doing their job! I think there's about 5 Senators and Representatives actually doing their job and working for the people who voted for them. The rest are bought and paid for, and doing their time to get their cushy retirements, kickbacks from the lobbyists, etc. They made a deal, knowing we wouldn't ever notice it or think it, so they'd get away with it. Vote Independent, and/or start a new party! (I like the sound of the New Progressive Party, myself!) OUT with the OLD, IN with the NEW!
Um, then how do you explain that the blue states pay more in taxes and that the red states TAKE more in benefits? Don't believe it? Look it up.
The top earners making at least 93% of new income the last 10 yrs (I heard it was revised to 103%) should pay more for 5 years or til we pay off the disaster that some rich gamblers in Wall Street caused. Wall St swells are still waltzing around with their million dollar bonuses, supporting GOP who is doing their damndest to protect them. Then GOP says the little guys have got to give up more, that we need to cut SS and Medicare. Ever check your pay check to see what % of your check goes straight to these? GOP is governing the House by fear and intimidation. Just like Robme said-the 47% are takers. Robme had 917+ documented lies in 2012 campaign. GOP is grabbing at every quack story that comes along and has NO idea what they are doing.
GOP not talking about how the Wars were never added to the budget while Bush in office. They were a separate "secret" on the credit card. Responsible leadership would have eliminated one or 2 of W's 3 tax cuts and said we have to pay for the Wars.
GOP did not fund Medicare Rx plan either. Obamacare is paid for and is reducing costs for all-including the govt. The wars were put on the balance sheet for everyone to see. Obama stopped the Iraq war--btw-where is the 1 trillion that W said Iraq would pay us to cover that War?
Debt problems: Starting with the Reagan 50% tax cuts for the rich..+ tripling the national debt. By 1990's we had to slash Welfare to balance the budget. Now, GOP wants to slash SS and Medicare to cover the debt?
Meanwhile our defense spending has gone from $400B to abt $800 billion per yr since abt 2002. Who is paying for all this? Corporate tax receipts were about 5% in 2005. Now they are less than 1%. Yet GOP bangs that drum saying corporate taxes are too high to keep corps in USA. Another Robme lie.
GOP hasn't told the truth for a long time. Damn 2010 election let the crazies in. We got rid of part of them in 2012.
We need to vote the remaining crazies out in 2014. Let Obama work a plan that HE can take responsibility for. Get rid of the ankle biting haters who are trying to destroy America. They can't even allow Obama to select his own Cabinet! They are seriously ego-maniacal.