Revisiting the cost of the Bush tax cuts - The Fact Checker. ((Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)) “After Democrats and Republicans committed to fiscal discipline during the 1990s, we lost our way in the decade that followed. We increased spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription drug program — but we didn’t pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts — tax cuts that went to every millionaire and billionaire in the country.” — President Obama, April 13, 2011 Obama, in a speech on budget policy last month, offered this summary of how he thought the nation lost its way fiscally during the presidency of George W. Tax cuts are estimated to have totaled $2.8 trillion, which we guess would count as “trillions,” as the president put it.
(In case you are wondering, the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was $1.26 trillion through 2011 and the Medicare prescription drug program totaled $272 billion.) The Facts The Bottom Line. Media Matters for America. PolitiFact | Sorting out the truth in politics.
The Maddow Blog. Mother Jones | Smart, Fearless Journalism. Katrina Vanden Heuvel.