In this age of information, it’s only a matter of typing a few words and hitting ‘enter’.

US Federal Deficit $1.09 trillion

Cost of Iraq and Afghanistan wars  $1.4 trillion

Cost of Bush tax cuts over first twelve years  $1.28 trillion

Is nobody else doing the math as we argue about cutting social programs?  

I leave it to you to check the accuracy of these figures.   They explain, in part, why that speechifying wartime president has been scarce since leaving the White House, except when he nips out to earn $100,000 or more to speak English, after a fashion, to cheering corporate audiences.