Facts, Opinions and Tinfoil Hats

It's one thing to have an opinion. It's another to have your own set of facts. One of the maddening habits of conservatives is their determination to alter reality.

For instance, last week a reader took issue with my column in which I contended the lack of job creation in the Bush administration contradicts Republicans' assertions that tax cuts create jobs. He claimed the Bush tax cuts were responsible for "5 million more jobs in 2008 than there were in 2001" so therefore Republicans are correct and I'm wrong. No, they weren't. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there were 132,453,000 jobs in 2001and 133,563,000 in 2008. That's 1.1 million jobs not five million.

In fact, The Wall Street Journal (1/9/09) reported, "President Bush…shows the worst track record for job creation since the government began keeping records" in 1939.

Then there's the deficit and debt flimflam in which Republicans lay the whole fiscal mess in President Obama's lap. Un-uh. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Bush racked-up deficits totaling $4.6 trillion or a 45.8 percent increase in the national debt. The debt stood at 56.4 percent of GDP when he took office and 84.2 percent when he handed it off to Obama. That's a 27.8 percent increase in the ratio of debt to GDP, the largest in any presidency since the War.

In other words if the Obama years were totally expunged, we'd still be facing a national debt of 84.2 percent of GDP plus 2007 - pre-Obama - CBO projections of multibillion dollar deficits well into the future. And that was before the crash to exacerbate them.

In 2001, the CBO projected a surplus of $2.3 trillion dollars by 2011. Instead we added $9.2 trillion in new debt on top $5.6 trillion. The Pew Center determined the $11.5 trillion negative swing was driven by: revenue declines due to the recession, 28 percent; increases in debt financing, accounting changes and miscellaneous, 18 percent; increased defense spending, 15 percent; Bush tax cuts, 13 percent; increased discretionary spending, 10 percent; Medicare Part D, 2 percent; and Obama stimulus and tax cuts, 14 percent.

At most, Obama administration policies are responsible for 14 percent to possibly 20 percent of the current national debt of $14.8 trillion. The Reagan-Bush I-Bush II presidencies are responsible for 39.1 percent and the Carter-Clinton presidencies' 4.4 percent.

Balancing the budget is hard enough. It's impossible if we're not even starting with the same serious data. Republicans need to acknowledge the role they played in this financial mess and not only lambast Obama. Both parties got us into this and it will take both parties to get us out.

Sorry! Thems the facts. You don't get to wiggle your nose or tune in your tinfoil hat and just make-up stuff you like better like.