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Trade Deficit
Venezuela cut off oil sales to ExxonMobil due to a legal battle over nationalization of the company’s properties in Venezuela while a devastating shut down of the oil processing in Nigeria further hurt the trade deficit. Both events caused a spike in the prices of crude petroleum causing the merchandise deficit to increase $896.5 billion.
https://www.usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/tradeshifts/2008/index.htm
http://www.rff.org/blog/2009/2008-oil-price-shock-markets-or-mayhem -
Federal Budget Deficit
In 2009, the federal budget deficit peaked at $1.4 trillion.
Washington spent $440 billion on financial bailouts, ways to boost the economy , and fighting terrorism around the world. $515.4 billion were spent in 2009 for the Department of Defense which was the second highest cost in that year after social security. All of this spending greatly contributed to the high budget deficit.
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/10/federal-spending-by-the-numbers-2012 -
Obamacare
Obamacare, or Affordable Care Act (ACA), was created and enforced in 2010 by President Obama. This would help reduce spending in hospitals by decreasing the amount of readmissions, breaking away from continuous payment systems, and other things. By following these actions Medicare would find savings in the back of its pocket.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/08/27/yes-obamacare-is-cutting-the-deficit/?utm_term=.5a71077353fb -
Free Trade Agreement
The U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Korea took effect. While the FTA was done with intentions to lower the trade deficit with Korea, the trade deficit surprisingly increased due to the fundamental problems of the FTA. The U.S. trade deficit with Korea increased $3.3 billion in 2012 following the FTA.
http://www.epi.org/publication/us-trade-deficit-china-oil/ -
Federal Budget Deficit
In 2013 Bush made tax cuts permanent. Congress voted to extend income tax cuts for families that earn less than $450,000 a year. The “Bush tax” continues to be one of the biggest component of deficits to this day because the less taxes people have to pay, the more the deficit grows.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/02/the-legacy-of-the-bush-tax-cuts-in-four-charts/?utm_term=.208e31df3ff0 -
Savings Deficit
Millennial savings was at its highest point in 2009 at 5%, while people aged 45-54 were saving about 10% at the same time. Millennial savings dropped to -2% in December of 2014. Because of savings being below 0%, millennials are going into debt and are spending money faster than they can make it.
http://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/younger-generation-faces-a-savings-deficit/
