Deficit Discourse

"In fact, the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic downturn together explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years."

As I have said here before, I agree with Paul Krugman that rather than simply whining about the deficit we ought to look at where it comes from. That is, let's talk about the sources of our deficit problems. How might we control the deficit into the future. Consider this graph:

The graph comes from this report at the Center for Budget & Policy Priorities. You will notice that a primary source of the deficit now (and increasingly into the future) are the tax cuts that the Republicans passed - via a budget reconciliation, by the way - under BushCo. Add in the wars and all the wasted spending they have generated and, well, there is a real clear way to deal with the deficit. Obama should ditch the "budget freeze" on "discretionary" programs and do something bold. End the wars and pledge to veto any budget bill that arrives on his desk if does not repeal the Bush tax cuts. It is that simple, no?