Obama likely to be hit hard in debate as deficit highlights a broken promise

[DonViejo]

Just after his inauguration, President Barack Obama made a pledge: to cut the nation’s $1.3tn deficit in half by the end of his first term. Sunday marks a sobering day for the president and his promise – the end of another fiscal year with a deficit surpassing $1tn.

Despite marginal improvements this is the fourth straight year that the deficit has passed the $1tn mark, adding to a national debt that passed $16tn for the first time this year.

Obama inherited an economy in crisis only to find the situation was even worse than it appeared. He also inherited wars and tax cuts that have drained the nation’s coffers. But his own decisions, including a massive stimulus programme, as well as those beyond his control, have increased the US’s debt by $6tn under his watch. The size of the deficit and Obama’s failure to tackle it are likely to be hot topics as the president squares off with Mitt Romney for the first presidential debate on Wednesday.

Romney and his vice-presidential pick Paul Ryan have hammered Obama’s record on debt. “When he came into office, there was just over $10tn in debt. Now there’s over $16tn in debt. If he were re-elected, I can assure you it will be almost $20tn in debt,” Romney told voters in Ohio last week. “And by the way, those debts get passed on to our kids. It’s not just bad for the economy; it’s not just bad for our job creation; it will … in my opinion, it is immoral for us to pass on obligations like that to the next generation.”

Romney has said he plans to balance the annual budget in eight to 10 years but has given scant details of exactly how that will be achieved. Obama’s most recent budget proposal called for $5.3tn in deficit reduction over the next decade. Again, details are in short supply. The president’s budget claims the deficit will be $901bn in 2013, better but still far short of his $650bn promise.


Read more:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/30/obama-likely-to-be-hit-hard-in-debate-as-deficit-highlights-a-broken-promise/

[Zoeisright]

1. And do you know WHY that happened?

Because repukes did everything in their power to block everything this President has tried to do. I wonder why that little tidbit was left out of your post.

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. At GOP insistance, the Bush tax cuts got extended

End of debate.

[OKNancy]

3. original story at The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/30/obama-deficit-debate-promise?newsfeed=true

[SoapBox]

4. "Obama likely to be hit hard in debate as deficit highlights a broken promise"

WMDs anyone? Invading a couple of countries?

Hell, I wouldn't even begin to have time to list all the BushCo. created messes.

[monmouth]

5. He has responded to this so many times, economists (Krugman, for one) have answered it numerous

times....sigh. People need to listen..

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. Ryan and his crew are the architects of this debt

[kestrel91316]

7. Thank you for your concern.

[TomCADem]

8. Easy Response - President Obama Is Not Going To Cut Deficit By Destroying Medicare...

...and that is what the Paul Ryan proposed in order to expand tax cuts to folks like Romney.

[smorkingapple]

9. I wish he would just come out and say it: The deficit is meaningless...

because it is... It's an accounting measure and when evaluating a currency sovereign nation it is essentially meaningless...

Unfortunately this is so counterintuitive for most people, including "experts" it's a political non starter but it's true.

If only people understood what the "national debt" and the "budget deficit" really mean in our monetary system they'd be astounded at the way this is being used to misdirect them from real issues like income inequality.

[ohheckyeah]

10. So, what's your opinion on this?

What do you think President Obama could have done that he didn't do? How do you think the Republican lack of cooperation played into the problem?