The federal deficit — as a portion of the overall economy — was much larger in the early 1940s than it is today. Back then, a period of high, post-war deficits was followed by decades of unprecedented economic growth.
And critics of today’s deficit often fail to mention that Bush-era tax cuts to the wealthy are a major contributing factor.
In the video Deficits and the Recovery, policy analyst Ethan Pollack offers some historic context on the federal deficit and explains why “if we really do want to reduce the deficit, we first need to create jobs.”
