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But doesn't need to be that high.
In some cases the expenditures more than paid for themselves; in others, not, and swelled the deficit unnecessarily. The deficit going forward is unsustainable, but most of what's planned to be reduced is stuff that should not have been included in the budget projections in the first place.
As for recessions causing a reduction in income taxes, leading to a deficit (or increased deficit), it's an excuse I hear widely now. It's true, of course. But it's not an excuse I heard so much, or hear so much, about the deficit 8 years ago. It was also true then. But politics make some things unpalatable and unutterable.
The deficit last year was increased by a stimulus package, as well, but people focused on the size of the deficit, not (a) that it was probably partially caused by a recession, (b) that it was partially caused by an anti-recession stimulus bill, (c) that it was due not just to administration requests for increased military spending but also increases on a wide variety of purposes, not always at the administration's request. (Yes, I am one of those who doesn't hold Obama uniquely responsible for the current budget deficits, even those portions bearing his signature, any more than I hold prior presidents responsible for what a dem or repub House/Senate did.)
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