>> why did Bush give those multi trillion dollar tax cuts to the rich?
After the Clinton economic bubble, the DotCom bubble and Y2K, the economy slipped into recession as Bush took office in 2001. 8 months later, 911 happened.
The economy began to seriously weaken and stimulus was clearly needed. Taxcuts simply allow people who earn money keep more of their money. Nothing irresponsible there.
The stimulus clearly worked. Federal revenues increased every year but the first year.
But, the deficits were caused by greatly increase federal spending; in part from increased social spending and in part because of the mid-east wars.
If you want to understand why Bush wanted to stimulate the economy during a recession, read some Krugman. He will explain why it is necessary to run deficits to increase employment.
| Year | Total | On-Budget | Off-Budget |
| | Receipts | Outlays | Surplus or Deficit (–) | Receipts | Outlays | Surplus or Deficit (–) | Receipts | Outlays | Surplus or Deficit (–) |
| 2002 | 1,853,136 | 2,010,894 | -157,758 | 1,337,815 | 1,655,232 | -317,417 | 515,321 | 355,662 | 159,659 | | 2003 | 1,782,314 | 2,159,899 | -377,585 | 1,258,472 | 1,796,890 | -538,418 | 523,842 | 363,009 | 160,833 | | 2004 | 1,880,114 | 2,292,841 | -412,727 | 1,345,369 | 1,913,330 | -567,961 | 534,745 | 379,511 | 155,234 | | 2005 | 2,153,611 | 2,471,957 | -318,346 | 1,576,135 | 2,069,746 | -493,611 | 577,476 | 402,211 | 175,265 | | 2006 | 2,406,869 | 2,655,050 | -248,181 | 1,798,487 | 2,232,981 | -434,494 | 608,382 | 422,069 | 186,313 | | 2007 | 2,567,985 | 2,728,686 | -160,701 | 1,932,896 | 2,275,049 | -342,153 | 635,089 | 453,637 | 181,452 |
whitehouse.gov |
