Once Again, A Democratic President Cuts a Republican Deficit. Almost No One Notices.

[Igel]

114. And a small increase it was.

Which is a problem. Disbursements count as part of the 2009 deficit. You spend $500 billion of TARP, you get $500 billion in deficits.

But much of the TARP money was repaid in 2010 and 2011, so that a small amount (less than the amount of this year's sequester) remains outstanding. That wasn't used to reduce the amount of the 2009 deficit.

That was used to reduce the amount of the deficit in 2010 and 2011. Spend $500 billion in 2009, it goes on Bush II's tab.

Banks and others repay $250 billion in 2010, that's deficit reduction under Obama's watch.

It's funny bookkeeping, but when you carry accounts across multiple years you're pretty much stuck with it and just need to put in a footnote that the money was repaid and note where it was expensed and were it was credited. But who reads footnotes?

In fact, discounting TARP all by itself would reduce the deficit for 2009 quite a bit. Then there's the question of the nearly as large deficits in 2010 and 2011, which didn't have the one-time TARP spending and where the TARP repayments were posted. Ick.