President Obama’s changing economic problem definition & deficit strategy

In advance of tomorrow’s State of the Union address I have been rereading President Obama’s major economic speeches. I had hoped to show a progression of argument, but that didn’t pan out. Instead two…

The President’s economic policy priorities

The President’s 2012 economic policy agenda emphasizes four policy challenges:

1. the loss of American manufacturing employment;
2. America’s dependence on oil;
3. America’s sub-par (my…

Data sources for response to the Klein deficit comparison chart

• All numbers measure changes in debt held by the public, the amount the federal government borrows from the rest of the world.
• Bush 43 debt increase over two terms: $2.9 T = $6.307 T — $3.410 T

The price of politics: a bit over $1 trillion

At almost every recent campaign stop President Obama has said a version of this:

Independent analysis shows my plan for reducing the deficit would cut it by $4 trillion. I’ve already worked with Republicans in Congress to cut…