History of federal deficits since JFK. Bush 43 was NOT the big spender the Left and the Right claim.

The dates for the Federal fiscal year run from October 1 through September 30 of the following year.  September 30 of whatever year,  is the name of the fiscal year.  The first year of any presidency,  is the last fiscal year of the previous president.  Obama was sworn into office on Jan 20, 2009,  three and a half months into fiscal year 2009.  Obama's first year, until October 1,  was spent working under the last budget of George W Bush.  We have not had an official budget,  since that last GW budget.  Turns out,  Barack actually cannot write a budget.  He has tried a number of times.  Three of his budgets failed in the Senate Zero to 97 and Zero to 99  (true),  and,  a third budget attempt failed 2 to 95.  In the House,  one budget submission failed Zero to 414 and a second failed 2 to 416.   When I say,  "The man does not know how to write a budget proposal,"  I was being very serious.  Palin knows how to write a budget.  Bush 43 knows how to write a budget,  Even Jimmy Carter knows how to write a budget.  Not Barack Obama.  In fact, another of his budget proposals was rejected by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with the statement,  "We do not score speeches."

As to the chart below,  the longest negative bar, between "2005" and "2015," was Bush's last fiscal budget and Obama's first year in office (2009).  TARP ($700 billion),  was added "Bush's last fiscal budget,"  the only year his deficits were more than $400 billion.  In fact,  four of the eight Bush budgets had deficits of less than $300 billion.  All of President Bush's budgets,  including Fiscal 2009,  averaged less than $440 billion in deficits.  The four years of surplus,  were the last four fiscal years of Clinton.  All preceding presidents,  before Bush 43,  had greater deficits than "43."  It is a false narrative,  a lie,  that Bush was a "big spender,"  if we put his spending in the context of previous presidents.

When Obama promised to "cut the annual deficit in half,"  he was talking about the Bush 43 fiscal years.  Obama cut his own deficit spending,  in half,  last fiscal year,  and brags about having kept his 2008 promises.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

(Note:  margin demarcations,  are in 2 billion dollars increments).