Does this graph take interest into account? For instance, if the deficit was one trillion dollars at the end of President Smith's administration and two trilli

Does this graph take interest into account? For instance, if the deficit was one trillion dollars at the end of President Smith's administration and two trillion dollars at the end of President Jones' administration eight years later, how is the blame apportioned between Smith and Jones? A large fraction of Jones' deficit is due to the fact that he's stuck paying the interest incurred under President Smith. So a fifty-fifty assignment of blame is wrong. On the other hand, we can hardly absolve President Jones for his failure to pay off the debts incurred by President Smith, either. Of course, as DanielBMarkham has said, the whole idea of blaming presidents for deficits is rather silly, when it's really congress that writes the budgets. (Not that presidents can be absolved of blame either...)