The President’s Trillion-Dollar Deficits →
It is really unfortunate that President Bush’s 2003 tax cuts were not followed by serious spending cuts. I do believe that well-designed tax cuts have a very positive impact on the economy. However, no tax cuts can compensate for the damage caused by the dramatic increase in spending that we experienced during the Bush years (a 60 percent increase in spending above inflation over eight years, compared to Clinton’s 12.5 percent; two Keynesian stimuli in 2001 and 2008; bailouts; and more.)
And if spending is mainly responsible for our current deficit, it should play a large role in addressing the problem — there aren’t many other ways to go about it.
Truth. Veronique de Rugy also mentions that the Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler gave President Obama four Pinocchios for his claim that he was only responsible for 10% of the deficit. According to the data, President Obama was responsible for nearly 40% of the budget deficit. "It was President Bush's fault" is an excuse that's wearing very thin.