So which stat is really the truth? Kind of reminds me of this vintage game show.
http://youtu.be/wIUx0O6k8S8
Originally Posted by acp5762
first things first ... deficit/debt .. there's a difference
nonetheless, credit where credit is due ..
Fiscal 2009 began Oct. 1, 2008. That was before Obama was elected, and nearly four months before he took office on Jan. 20, 2009.
President Bush signed the
massive spending bill under which the government was operating when Obama took office. That
was Sept. 30, 2008. As The Associated Press noted, it combined “a record Pentagon budget with aid for automakers and natural disaster victims, and increased health care funding for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Bush also signed, on Oct. 3, 2008, a bank bailout bill that
authorized another $700 billion to avert a looming financial collapse (though not all of that would end up being spent in fiscal 2009, and Obama later signed a measure reducing total authorized bailout spending to $475 billion).
On Jan. 7, 2009 — two weeks before Obama took office — the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office issued its regular budget outlook, stating: “CBO projects that the deficit this year will total $1.2 trillion.”
CBO attributed the rapid rise in spending to the bank bailout and the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – plus rising costs for unemployment insurance and other factors driven by the collapsing economy (which
shed 818,000 jobs in January alone).
Another factor beyond Obama’s control was an automatic 5.8 percent cost of living increase
announced in October 2008 and given to Social Security beneficiaries in January 2009. It was
the largest since 1982. Social Security spending alone
rose $66 billion in fiscal 2009, and Medicare spending, driven by rising medical costs, rose $39 billion.