Out of the box,Bush(and majority Republicans) repayed his financial backers with a three trillion dollar tax cut that began our stroll down the avenue of debt.Most of the money went to citizens who didn't need it and had been increasing their wealth for the past thirty years by underpaying their employees and taking away their benefits.This increased the income inequality even more and transported us back to the roaring twenties when this disparity was the greatest.No mention of the 13% who live in poverty and the 20% who live a few bucks above it.Next, the Bush Administration increased the debt by three hundred billion with an unfunded drug benefits program for seniors.This was done for the support of the pharmaceutical industry,not the general population,who wanted to monopolize the drug purchases and stop the seniors from acquiring their needed drugs from Canada and other countries who would provide the service at a cheaper rate.Nationalization of heath care would bring lower costs to citizens and the government and project and protect democracy(top 10% don't want equality here,best facilities and doctors only for them).
The same administration provided two hundred billion(TARP) to help the financial community for speculating(their formulas failed)on debt securities(built on commercial,residential housing) that collapsed and started to lower stocks and disrupt the banking system.Again,most Americans didn't have direct interest in the financial community(vast majority of securities held by top 10% income earners) but are paying for the college boys/girls mistakes in their free market,holy(always right) capitalistic system.
9/11 brought our country $1.4 trillion in debit for the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.This spending was unnecessary and could have been avoided if we were patient and denounced retribution(an eye for an eye leaves the world blind).Our domestic spending on homeland security was enough to counteract the small fundamentalist groups and our recent history proves this point. Our violent,militaristic culture provided the push for President Bush's Administration, with traditional hawks and conservative pseudo-academics, to seek a revenge that dismantled two countries and have lost over two hundred thousand lives in the role of nation building.
The Great Recession lost considerable revenue and $1.7 trillion was borrowed for domestic and general defense spending during the last years of the Bush Administration(we actually spend 52% of our annual budget on defense,more than all nations combined,including interest on previous spending and veterans benefits that grow every year due to the horrible injuries).Additional mandatory policies($400 billion) was spent and borrowed under Bush due to a lack of revenue.The total for Bush's policies amounted to $7 trillion from 2001-2008.
President Obama's Administration presented a $800 billion Recovery Act(1/3 tax decreases) to stimulate the economy that was primarily caused by a loss in aggregate demand due to unemployment and fear of future layoffs by the majority of the population.The new classical economists,sanctified by the Republicans,saw no need for government interference and wanted monetary policy to bring us back to equilibrium and job creation.Many new Keynesians wanted the stimulus to be bigger with the possibility of an increase in aggregate demand.The people with the money to start investments sat on their money afraid to risk it because the majority on Americans were inhibited to purchase on credit anymore(used credit because salaries were so low). After running up $7 trillion in debt,the Republicans stopped President Obama from spending more to help the economy and the 90% of Americans that lived in fear of future cuts in employment(stock market prices increased when unemployment rose in their companies).Obama also added $250 billion on the 2010 middle class tax cut to again stimulate demand.Finally,Obama had a one-time emergency costs and investments(small business Bill,HIRE Act,education investments and Census) at $400 billion.The Obama Administration's total debt increase was $1.4 trillion.The Bush Administration spent and accumulated debt at five times the amount of the Obama Administration.Obama's policies have also tried to undue the economic problems the financial community and Bush Administration created.$4.3 trillion in debit has accumulated since 2008 with all of it coming from government financing($700 billion) and lost revenue from lower taxes and a depressed economy($3.6 trillion) which is really a continuation of the Bush policies.All this has happened as the Republicans,and the Americans that elected them, clammer for no new revenues.The Great Recession, which was caused primarily by the 10% who have the majority of the money,has left the 90% of citizens fearful and hopeless in a culture that ignores the founding principles of democracy(Common good for all).Economic inequality is a silent dagger that is twisting more today than at any time in our recent history.It's time to take to the streets and disrupt the lives of those who shelter and gate themselves from the majority who want only democracy and security in the workplace.
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