Most Americans Blame Wars For Federal Debt; Few Cite Tax Cuts

[sailingaway]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/most-americans-blame-wars-for-federal-debt-fewest-cite-tax-cuts.php

h/t pageonekentucky

This is good for Ron, methinks. And for all of us, in a larger sense.

Mind you, they are wrong about domestic spending as a driver, too, but still...

[Sola_Fide]

This is very good for us going forward.

[Zippyjuan]

In the past, the US has paid for its wars by increasing taxes to pay for them. In this case, not only did we add the expenses of the wars to the budget, we also did the opposite by cutting taxes. They were both actually major contributing factors- though as the article points out, the net impact of tax cuts on adding to the deficit was greater than what the annual costs of the wars added.

According to the CBPP, the Bush-era tax cuts by far account for the largest share of the federal deficit. Combined with the Iraq and Afghan wars, those policies will make up around 50% of the overall deficit by 2019, according to CBPP's figures.