George W. Bush's Impact On The Economy

How high? The national debt is currently at $19 trillion and expanding daily. During Barack Obama’s inauguration day, the national debt exceeded $10 trillion. Obama inherited a broken economy with a frozen financial system, unemployment hitting double digits, a $455 billion deficit, a banking crisis, and massive layoffs. Simply put, there were not enough taxes to make up the federal government’s extravagant spending. Eight years earlier, Former President George W. Bush inherited a surplus and envisioned tax cuts for his presidency. These cuts exceeded $1 trillion over 10 years and were, mostly, to the wealthy. Since former President Ronald Reagan, Republicans institute a tax-cut approach to the economy. However, in the 1990s, Republican George
Wars are expensive and governments need to increase their income to afford one. However, Bush continued to “starve the beast” and shrink the federal government by insinuating that no tax cut is too substantial. At the end of 2002, Bush fired one of his economic advisors for doubting his policies. In the same year, the pay-go rule, where creating a new bill required a tax increase or spending decrease, expired. One of Bush’s keynote laws, Part D, expanded Medicare to cover prescription costs and please the seniors, a major voting block for Republicans. Although conservative spending is a staple for Republicans, Part D will cost over $8 trillion. Ultimately, through his first five years, Bush never vetoed a spending bill. Bush prioritized short-term gains over long-term prosperity and Obama wanted to change that. Therefore, in his first year, Obama increased the national budget deficit to $1.7 trillion by signing the stimulus package that increased spending and reduced taxes. However, the Republicans figured they would receive no credit if Obama succeeded and decided to become an opposition party by shooting down any of his
Trump and any future president must make it an economic prerogative. In the 1930s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt enacted two federal governmental programs to traverse the economic downturn the United States faced. Every American citizen when they reach their sixties are entitled to the programs Social Security and Medicaid. In the 1930s, an American, on average, lived to their early 60s and some did not receive the programs. However, nowadays, the life expectancy for an American is their late 70s and most procure the benefits. The “Baby Boomers”, a generation of rapid growth in the 1950s, are now retiring in masses and accepting Social Security and Medicare. There are not enough working citizens to withstand the aging population and support the entitlement programs. Over two-thirds of the federal budget is tied to entitlement programs and is on path to increase until it consumes the whole budget. Healthcare is the paramount roadblock to the budget crisis with an increase from 5% in 2010 to 20% of the economy in 2050. Obama spent $634 billion to reform the healthcare system and passed the Affordable Care Act, but is seeing the ACA disentangle with the current administration. Clearly, the two parties recognize healthcare as an issue, but are in opposition on how to fix it. The bipartisan issue is facing partisan turmoil and the debt, now exceeding the GDP, will not be conquered until the federal government works