Obama Administration Increased Deficit, But Look At Bush And Reagan

By Stephanie Robins on September 28, 2010, 6:22 am Posted in Finance News

While Obama’s administration has incurred its fair share of debt during his time in office, his term has thus far been far too short to justify the hyperbolic mudslinging generally aimed in his direction. To be fair to the president, we must compare his performance to that of his predecessors.

A History of Republican Debt

Ronald Reagan and Bushes Sr. and Jr left office with debt figures of 2.9, 4.4, and 12 trillion dollars, respectively. Democrat Bill Clinton left office with 5.7 trillion, and current estimation’s place the national debt under Obama at about 13.5 trillion. These figures show that each president has made a contribution to the national debt – in fact, the national debt has not seen a net decrease since 1957.

Clinton, during his 8 years, oversaw an increase of 1.3 trillion. When compared side by side with republicans in office, this doesn’t seem so bad. Reagan’s policies saw an increase of more than 2 trillion over 8 years. Bush Sr. also increased debt by 1.3 but took half the time to do it. The debt doubled during Bush Jr’s time in office, increasing to roughly 12 trillion. Given this inheritance, how well could Obama be expected to do?

 

Obama’s Performance

Obama’s contributions to the national debt have thus far paled in comparison to those of his republican predecessors. Looking at the remainder of his contributions to the country’s economy with a fair eye, and recognizing that the recession ended during his tenure, and as a result of his actions (according to many economists), one begins to realize that looking for republicans to right his wrongs is nothing less than patently silly.

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