Follow the Straight (and Dotted) Lines to Budget Truths: View

In Washington, the weather has heated up. So has the rhetoric in the hybrid budget/debt-ceiling negotiations between President Barack Obama and congressional leaders. From the White House lectern on Monday, the president insisted that U.S. lawmakers have “a moral imperative to tackle our debt and deficit.” This means, generally speaking, that Democrats need to accept spending cuts and entitlement reform and that Republicans need to relent on tax increases.

Every so often, graphics can speak louder than words, and to that end we suggest a quick look at this chart, using data compiled by Bloomberg. It puts in stark perspective the imperative mentioned by Obama and underscores that, on this issue, he is solidly in the right.