Another good reason for Obama to get TOTALLY out of Iraq …

And to not dump too many new troops in Afghanistan, either?

Those $1 trillion deficits he expects for several years to come. Of course, since Shrub has put the Iraq spending off budget, technically, Obama cuts in Iraq spending wouldn’t make a difference to the budget. But, such cuts would make a difference to investors from Wall Street, Shanghai and elsewhere.

Even outside of that, the key tell is the deficit as percentage of gross domestic product. Here, Obama’s potential 7 percent deficit would break Ronald Reagan’s 1983 6 percent previous non-war record.

That said, part of this is Bush's fault. Things such as TARP and the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac prop-up, which the Bush Administration labeled as "investments, are counted as part of this $1 trillion by the Congressional Budget Office, and rightfully so.

Oh, speaking of that, I am getting tired of talking heads saying we’re in the worst economic crisis since the Depression. Being old enough here to remember the 1980-82 double-dip recession, I can say that current economic stats aren’t yet close to matching even that situation.

While whistling past the economic graveyard sometimes is just that, at other times, it’s good self-talk. At this time, especially since there’s no evidence to back up media doom and gloom talk, we could use more whistling past the graveyard.