Mr WGSR totin' Economics Perfessor:

2008 vs. 2009

The CBO reported in October 2009 reasons for the difference between the 2008 and 2009 deficits, which were approximately $460 billion and $1,410 billion, respectively. Key categories of changes included: tax receipt declines of $320 billion due to the effects of the recession and another $100 billion due to tax cuts in the stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or ARRA); $245 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and other bailout efforts; $100 billion in additional spending for ARRA; and another $185 billion due to increases in primary budget categories such as Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, Social Security, and Defense - including the war effort in Afghanistan and Iraq. This was the highest budget deficit relative to GDP (9.9%) since 1945. The national debt increased by $1.9 trillion during FY2009, versus the $1.0 trillion increase during 2008.>/tt>

Hmmmmmmmmmm $1.9 trillion 2009 Obama, $ 1.0 trillion 2008 Bush.

Gee that's a hard one. I think I need to call Amos on this one.

Hey Amos, isn't the end results determined by the amount actually spent, regardless of what was budgeted?

Doesn't the bottom line get added to or subtracted from the deficit?

Remember the Clinton surpluses? Were they subtracted from the national Deficit? IE the national debt went down during the surplus years?