January 20, 2009 President Obama sworn into office President tells the American people in his Inaugural Address: âThose of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.â Debt Held By Public = $6.31 trillion February 17, 2009 President Signs into Law the Spending Stimulus The stimulus adds $821 billion in new spending according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The White House promises this infusion of spending and borrowing would keep unemployment rate below 8%. As millions of Americans are painfully aware, that promise was broken. Debt Held by Public = $6.48 trillion February 26, 2009 President Issues FY2010 Budget The Presidentâs budget adds $2.7 trillion in new debt in FY2010 and imposes $1.4 trillion in new taxes. Debt Held by Public = $6.58 trillion March 11, 2009 President Signs FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act The massive spending bill includes 8,696 earmarks at a cost of $11 billion. The spending bill adds $19 billion in new spending above the baseline â an 8.6% spending increase. Debt Held by Public = $6.66 trillion April 29, 2009 Congressional Democrats Pass FY2010 Budget The Congressional Democratsâ budget calls for a $2 trillion debt increase in 2010, and another 8.9% increase in non-defense discretionary spending. The reconciliation process is abused to later pave the way for health care overhaul to be jammed into law. Of note: this is the last time Congressional Democrats will bother budgeting. Debt Held by Public = $6.85 trillion February 2, 2010 President Issues FY2011 Budget The Presidentâs budget more than doubles the debt; pushes the FY2011 deficit to a new record of $1.6 trillion; drives spending to a new record of $3.8 trillion in fiscal year 2011; and raises taxes by more than $2 trillion through 2020, under the administrationâs own estimates. Debt Held by Public = $7.85 trillion March 23, 2010 President Signs Health-Care Overhaul Into Law The massive new law adds $1.4 trillion in new spending over the next decade, and over $2.5 trillion once the law is fully implemented. Despite sluggish economic growth and high unemployment, the law imposes over $500 billion in new tax hikes. CBO Director Elmendorf would later testify that the law would reduce employment by roughly half a percent â a reduction of approximately 800,000 jobs. Debt Held by Public = $8.18 trillion April 15, 2010 Congressional Democrats Decide Not to Do a Budget for FY2011 The 1974 Budget Act requires Congress to pass a budget each year by April 15. In an unprecedented budget failure, House Democrats not only failed to pass a budget â they opted to not even propose a budget. Debt Held by Public = $8.39 trillion July 21, 2010 President Signs Financial Regulatory Overhaul Into Law In addition to heightened regulatory uncertainty, the massive new law adds $10.2 billion in new spending. Debt Held by Public = $8.69 trillion February 14, 2011 President Issues FY2012 Budget The Presidentâs budget yet again calls for the doubling of the debt in five years, and tripling the debt in ten years. The Presidentâs budget spends $47 trillion over the next decade, imposes over $1 trillion in new tax hikes, and fails to address the drivers of the debt. Debt Held by Public = $9.45 trillion April 13, 2011 President Delivers Speech on Deficit Reduction The President appears to abandon his own budget by offering a âframeworkâ that calls for additional tax increases, defense spending cuts, and Medicare price controls â yet lacks sufficient detail to back-up claims of deficit reduction. Debt Held by Public = $9.65 trillion April 15, 2011 House Passes FY2012 Budget Resolution The House-passed budget cuts $6.2 trillion in government spending over the next decade, saves Medicare, strengthens the social safety net, lifts the crushing burden of debt, and spurs economic growth and job creation. Senate Democrats fail to meet their legal requirement to pass a budget by April 15. Debt Held by Public = $9.68 trillion April 18, 2011 S&P Issues Credit Warning on U.S. Debt The rating agency sets off the latest alarm bells, warning of lawmakers of unsustainable fiscal course. President Obama has still not proposed a credible budget; Senate Democrats have still not proposed any budget. Debt Held by Public = $9.68 trillion May 13, 2011 Medicare and Social Security Trustees Issue Warning of Looming Insolvency According to the programsâ own trustees, the unsustainable future of Medicare and Social Security threatens the health and retirement security of Americaâs seniors. President Obama and Congressional Democrats continue to engage in a partisan campaign to attack efforts to save and strengthen these critical programs â while offering no serious solutions of their own. Debt Held by Public = $9.67 trillion May 25, 2011 Senate Unanimously Rejects Presidentâs FY2012 Budget; Vote is 97-0 While the Presidentâs plan to accelerate our nation toward bankruptcy is unanimously rejected, the stunt on the Senate floor reveals the bankruptcy of Senate Democratsâ ideas. Senate Democrats have still not proposed any budget. Debt Held by Public = $9.72 trillion June 23, 2011 CBO Director Further Discredits Presidentâs Fiscal Record In testimony before the House Budget Committee, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf responds to questions on the Presidentâs âFrameworkâ: âWe donât estimate speeches. We need much more specificity than was provided in that speech for us to do our analysis.â Debt Held by Public = $9.74 trillion July 8, 2011 Unemployment Hits 9.2%; Day 800 Since Senate Democrats Last Passed A Budget A devastating jobs report that shows the unemployment rate at 9.2% coincides with the 800th day since Senate Democrats last thought the federal government needed a budget. Debt Held by Public = $9.75 trillion July 11, 2011 Senator Conrad Gives Budget Speech on Senate Floor On Day 803 since the Senate last passed a budget, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad takes to the Senate floor to deliver a speech about the Senate Democratsâ non-existent budget resolution. Senator Conrad makes the case for imposing over $2 trillion in new taxes, but provides no actual budget resolution and no credible details. Debt held by Public = $9.75 trillion July 15, 2011 President Holds Press Conference: âWeâre Running Out of Timeâ to Deal with Debt President Obama tells reporters: âI've got reams of paper and printouts and spreadsheets on my desk, and so we know how we can create a package that solves the deficits and debt for a significant period of time. But in order to do that, we got to get started now.â The American people have still not seen any âpaperâ or âprintoutsâ of what specific spending cuts the President supports. The American people have still not seen any âspreadsheetsâ from the White House to corroborate their claims of having offered a deficit reduction plan. While itâs long past time for Washington âto get started nowâ on tackling our debt problems, President Obama has still not proposed a credible budget, and Senate Democrats have still not proposed any budget. Debt Held by Public = $9.75 trillion
Did spending 10 billion a day to laser bomb empty caves in Afghanestan in Bush era have any effect on national debt?
Absolutely. No President in the last 100 years has been blameless for their actions. Including the present one. It's about time that the one sitting in the chair currently though try to fix the mess before he leaves but that won't happen with one that is a piss poor manager and steward of our country.
How can we sit and blame this or that president, administration, or party, when it is clear that the root, the cause, of their continuous acts of bankrupting the American citizenry lies in the system? It is the system which we have in place today, that allows whoever is at the helm of it, whether Republican or Democrat, to commit treason against the citizenry in the name of good intentions. When you leave the door to your house open every day and leave, are you going to blame the thief for stealing? The surest way to fix the problems we have today is to remove the root cause, and stop focusing on the symptoms (political parties).
Absolutely agree that the system is broke and has been broke for a long long time but with a poor manager at the helm the problems compound exponentially.