President Bush’s common refrain used to be: “The job of a President is to confront problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents and future generations.” But as Dan Froomkin notes, Bush’s “legacy will be precisely the opposite. He will have created problems that he then passed on to his successors unresolved. Exhibit A is, of course, Iraq. But Exhibit B may well be the budget.” A graphical look at the exploding problems Bush is passing on:


As if Chimpy has ever straigntened out any mess he has created throughout his whole useless existence ?
February 5th, 2008 at 1:00 pm*straightened*
February 5th, 2008 at 1:01 pmW.’s ENTIRE life has been to FUBAR EVERYTHING and have others clean up his mess.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:01 pmyes! VICTORY!
how could it be anything else?
got reality?
February 5th, 2008 at 1:02 pmWhy does everything the current regime does remind me of a three year old in the middle of a temper tantrum?
February 5th, 2008 at 1:03 pmPresident Bush’s common refrain used to be: “The job of a President is to confront problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents and future generations.â€
February 5th, 2008 at 1:03 pmMission Accomplished !!!!!???????????????????????????????
There’s fiscal responsibility for ya’!
February 5th, 2008 at 1:06 pmThe political majority the GOP constructed so carefully over decades, pissed away by an overgrown fratboy.
Oh well, at least now I get the grim satisfaction out of telling every Republican I personally know: “See? I told you so.”
February 5th, 2008 at 1:06 pmAgain reaffirming that every word out of his mouth is a lie, and expect exactly the opposite of what he says to be true.
Bush Speak = 1984 New Speak
Buck Fush
February 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pmThe job of a President is to confront problems, not to pass them on to future Presidents and future generations
The rule of thumb for this administration has clearly been, whatever Bush says, believe the opposite.
And it’s amazingly accurate. Bush is certainly consistent, even if he’s consistently wrong.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pmBuckie: GMTA
February 5th, 2008 at 1:08 pmThe Bush Curve.
Monetary speculation rises as Bush’s Bullshit is implemented.
Early ‘08 finds Wall Street not hanging with The Chimp. Markets begin a downward spiral.
This is his legacy.
What really pisses me off is that it was ALL PLANNED.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:08 pmLook at your two posts, Buckie and ralph, at 1:07. :)
February 5th, 2008 at 1:09 pmDrowning of the gummint accomplished.
So light blue is defense, dark blue HHS, what is the gray area? Certainly not chympie’s gray matter…?
February 5th, 2008 at 1:12 pmOh well, at least now I get the grim satisfaction out of telling every Republican I personally know: “See? I told you so.â€
Comment by Frosty Cupcake
There is also the “fun” of watching them squirm and try to claim they didn’t vote for bush. Maybe the diebold issue is bigger than we think, cuz ya can’t find anyone who cast a vote for bush these days.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:14 pmDrowning of the gummint accomplished.
So light blue is defense, dark blue HHS, what is the gray area? Certainly not chympie’s gray matter…?
Comment by RUCerious — February 5, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
February 5th, 2008 at 1:15 pmIt’s the vacuous void in between his ears…………..
re 14;
The grey area is the cloud of despair and destruction that bush has generated in his 7 years of hell.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:15 pmwow, wingnuts! the line graph is going up! This must mean that progress is being made…
February 5th, 2008 at 1:21 pmoh come on now! You all know what the repugs are gonna say. It’s all Clinton’s fault and they were left to pick up the pieces and get the nation back on track…it’s just gonna take a little more time, a whole lotta money, and some more permanent tax-breaks to get things right.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:37 pmHe will have created problems that he then passed on to his successors unresolved.
Corporations (like our current federal government) have become experts at doing this.
They have a name for it, they call it ‘externalizing’.
Which basically means, rape, pillage and burn as far as the eye can see.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:38 pmThen get the heII out and leave what’s behind for others to deal with.
Mainly the people whose lives depend on doing what they can to deal with it.
Why aren’t the trolls and repuglycans standing up to be counted and assuming their proportionate share of paying for this seven year fiasco?
February 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pmPerhaps the grey area are funds allocated to no-bid contractors for the war on terror?
February 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pmHe is correct. Bush needs to redo his budget and make much bigger cuts in entitlement programs until the budget is even. I am glad TP agrees. No President should ever allow spending to be more then tax receipts. It is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:45 pmWhat is the grey area? Is it medicare and medicaid or is that part of HHS? I believe that is the most important element to know.
The president has done exactly what his masters wanted him to do. The US will have a severe budgetary crisis. Most working and middle class persons will lose everything as health insurance is dropped, wages fall, unemployment is cut and those few with pensions lose them. They will be forced into bankruptcy and indentured servitude. The country will show the same extremes in wealth as Mexico and other countries. However, the elite will live in their walled communities and laugh at those stupid evangelical christians and Red Staters who screwed themselves for the benefit of the few.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:46 pmCongress Looks Askance at Bush’s Budget
The Associated Press - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats on two Senate panels tossed brickbats at President Bush’s budget on Tuesday, blasting it for loading debt onto the fiscal ledger and making clear that they would ignore his proposals to cut Medicare and Medicaid spending.
a·skance –adverb
1. with suspicion, mistrust, or disapproval…
2. with a side glance; sidewise; obliquely.
they’d better be doing more than looking “askance”…
February 5th, 2008 at 1:46 pmBush’s Final Budget Hints at Tough Choices Ahead New York Times
should be no-brainers
February 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pmHe is correct. Bush needs to redo his budget and make much bigger cuts in entitlement programs until the budget is even. I am glad TP agrees. No President should ever allow spending to be more then tax receipts. It is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 5, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
February 5th, 2008 at 1:50 pmYeah , like no-bid contracts for criminal companies like Halliburton and corporate welfare ……………
gg’s ignorance…..it’s doubled in 8 years and inflation has been low you ignoramus……
rr….we will be cutting some things but guess what yous guys don’t get to decide what……it’s gonnna be defense to start with
I’m really glad to see that our resident trolls find it amusing that we are in deep economic doo and they want to be called Americans…..how can they cheer for the demise of our country?
dow down 300
February 5th, 2008 at 1:54 pmSo it looks like total spending has nearly doubled in 15 years. Now, HOW ABOUT ADJUSTING FOR INFLATION?????
Comment by good_golly — February 5, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
How about you just shutting the hell up………..
February 5th, 2008 at 1:56 pmJMOHR
February 5th, 2008 at 1:57 pmI have learned to spot your posts. I apprecieate your ability to put these thoughts into words. You are talented. Thanks.
It is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 5, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
And dump those permanent tax cuts for the ultra-rich while he’s at it!
February 5th, 2008 at 2:03 pm“… how can they cheer for the demise of our country?”
Comment by Fred — February 5, 2008 @ 1:54 pm
The naswer is obvious, Fred… they’re NOT Americans.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:04 pmHow bout a windfall profit tax on all war-profiteers, like Blackwater, Halliburton. That would at least help reduce the deficit…
February 5th, 2008 at 2:04 pmThat’s “answer”… the answer is obvious…
February 5th, 2008 at 2:04 pmIt is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
Major entitlement programs are funded by their own dedicated taxes, moron - FICA and Medicare. We can afford them just fine; the former is even running a surplus.
It’s “defense” industry spending that’s out of control, and has been since Reagan. And every year you borrow-and-spend cons keep feeding those pigs, the more we pay the next to service the debt you morons keep running up.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:06 pm#32, luckily they’re not permanent. They’re set to expire, and Congress won’t change that. Too bad it’ll take more political will than we currently have to go further and put a 50% rate on annual income above 2 million and a 75% rate on income above 5 million.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:08 pmHe is correct. Bush needs to redo his budget and make much bigger cuts in entitlement programs until the budget is even. I am glad TP agrees. No President should ever allow spending to be more then tax receipts. It is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 5, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
So, you’re admitting your man has totally screwed things up? While it would be nice for him to do something better in his eighth year, we’re all going to suffer dearly for the horrible decisions he made through his first seven. And you will have to tell future generations that you were one of his most ardent cheerleaders as he was making these horrible decisions. How’s that going to make you feel?
February 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pmToo bad it’ll take more political will than we currently have to go further and put a 50% rate on annual income above 2 million and a 75% rate on income above 5 million.
Here’s where I’d like some Kennedy-esqe leadership to come forward and propose, and ramrod exactly that taxing structure to pay off the deficit. Make it temporary, for, say 8 years…
February 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pmWhy can’t Roger admit that defense (Read: contractor) spending is out of control. Priorities are misplaced, resources wasted. These conservatives, they HATE BIG GOVERNMENT, yet one government department is the exception to the rule.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:17 pm40 It’s called bunker mentality. They have backed themselves into so many corners supporting the irrational and illogical that in the end they are left with the same options that their hero Adolf had…to shoot themselves…..only chance they have is if we socialize health care before they do it……
February 5th, 2008 at 2:25 pm#41 Yes, they have painted themselves into a tiny corner, but they are too gutless to admit they are wrong, and just keep looking stupider, and stupider, and stupider.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:27 pmgood_golly, if you study the graph, and have a pocket calculator and know how to use it, and aren’t TERMINALLY STUPID, you can figure out that spending rose at 3.7% annualized under Clinton, and 5.2% annualized under Bush.
Of course, you don’t even need to work the numbers to see the growth rate accelerate under Bush.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:30 pmPay it forward is a great way to gain Karma ‘credits’, but it’s not the way to finance a country.
If we all paid it forward, the World would be a better place.
To Bushlickers, it means raping the public now, so our children can pay.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:33 pmHow pathetic is it that the only straw left for GiGi to grasp is the delusion that somehow, some way, we’ve experienced 100% inflation over the past fifteen years?
February 5th, 2008 at 2:44 pmgg tried to step into a conversation between vets on the “vets funding anit-war candidates” thread.
think she got fragged…….
February 5th, 2008 at 3:08 pmNothing new here. The boy Bush has always passed his crap onto other people.
February 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pmIt is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 5, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
Can you show me where these program are wasteful or are you making an assumption in keeping with a predetermined dogma. Some values are difficult to quantify and many valuable investments do not show there return until the dividend rendered years down the line in averted costs and the like
February 5th, 2008 at 4:12 pmHe is correct. Bush needs to redo his budget and make much bigger cuts in entitlement programs until the budget is even. I am glad TP agrees. No President should ever allow spending to be more then tax receipts. It is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 5, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
Go to hell Roger_Roger. I am sick and tired of hearing scum like you. F**k yourself. Some day we will deal with people like you in the appropriate manner. I can assure you that I can hardly wait to see you squirm.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:27 pmHe is correct. Bush needs to redo his budget and make much bigger cuts in entitlement programs until the budget is even. I am glad TP agrees. No President should ever allow spending to be more then tax receipts. It is time TP stands up and demands Bush cut spending on wasteful entitlement programs we can’t afford.
Comment by Roger_Roger — February 5, 2008 @ 1:45 pm
Or he could just RESTORE TAX LEVELS to what they were before he LOWERED THEM and WRECKED THE ECONOMY!
February 6th, 2008 at 12:22 am