More facts about the economy & the Bush Tax Cuts

Very informative charts (from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities) that shows the massive debt to the country that the Bush Tax Cuts have added.

- In light blue - the large, but temporary, expenditures for TARP and other measures proposed by both the Bush and Obama administrations to avoid a second Great Depression, plus Obama stimulus spending. Notice how the TARP and Fannie/Freddie bailouts drop off quickly since they ended.

- In gold and yellow - the very large, but permanent and worsening, budgetary impact of the "Bush tax cuts" -- which when first proposed back in the pre-9/11 era, were supposed to end in 2010 and were in response to what back then seemed to be the "problem" of a burgeoning surplus in federal accounts!

And, notice on the chart how budget problems would be on the path to self-correction, if the Bush cuts had lapsed as originally planned.

So when folks (like the Tea Partiers) talk about who's policies got us to where...  well, print this out and show them some facts.

In this second chart, notice the blue line.  That shows how debt would level off if the Bush Tax Cuts - that favor the wealthy - were to expire.