News flash! Obama most frugal president since Ike

From the Marketwatch column at the Wall Street Journal:

“Almost everyone believes that Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending, an “inferno” of spending that threatens our jobs, our businesses and our children’s future. Even Democrats seem to think it’s true.

But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s…..

Over Obama’s four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%.”

The column makes many of the points made on this blog in the past. For example, it points out that when Obama took office in 2009, the fiscal 2009 budget year was already four months underway, driven by spending and revenue programs put into place under President Bush.

If we rank spending increases for presidential budgets since 1980, it looks like this:

Reagan, 1982-85: Annual increase of 8.7 percent
Reagan, 1986-89: Annual increase of 4.9 percent
Bush I, 1990-93: Annual increase of 5.4 percent
Clinton, 1994-1997: Annual increase of 3.2 percent
Clinton, 1998-2001: Annual increase of 3.9 percent
Bush II, 2002-2005: Annual increase of 7.3 percent
Bush II, 2006-2009: Annual increase of 8.1 percent
Obama, 2010-2013: Annual increase of 1.4 percent

(It should be noted that in the interest of fairness and accuracy, the above numbers attribute increased 2009 spending from the Obama stimulus to Obama, who initiated it and signed it into law, rather than to Bush. That’s why the annual increase in the chart — 1.4 percent — is higher than the 0.4 percent mentioned in the column excerpt.)

I understand that this data strike directly at the heart of the GOP caricature of Obama. They contradict the foundation of the conservative rant against this president, not to mention the idolatry directed at Ronald Reagan. And since the data cannot be rebutted — the plain numbers are there for all to see — they will simply be ignored lest millions of heads explode simultaneously.

In that light, I thought I would close with this last little bit of data from the Wall Street Journal article:

“After adjusting for inflation, spending under Obama is falling at a 1.4% annual pace — the first decline in real spending since the early 1970s, when Richard Nixon was retreating from the quagmire in Vietnam.

In per-capita terms, real spending will drop by nearly 5% from $11,450 per person in 2009 to $10,900 in 2013 (measured in 2009 dollars).”

– Jay Bookman

813 comments Add your comment

Butch Cassidy

May 23rd, 2012
10:31 am

Mark in Midtown – “Typical misleading nonsense.”

What do you expect from the WSJ, it’s the Republican bible.

Jay

May 23rd, 2012
10:33 am

As to the Harvey Golub piece in the WSJ cited by “Obama is over”:

– “Over” mischaracterizes the Golub piece. It does not state that the recovery is the weakest of the 11 post-war recessions, it states that the recovery is “one of the weakest since World War II.” A big difference.

– If you go to the source cited by Golub – http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/studies/recession_perspective/index.cfm — you will find that in terms of jobs for example, this recovery is stronger than that in the 2001 recession under Bush. You will also see, if you take the time to look, that almost every post-war recovery has come more slowly than the recoveries that preceded it, a long-term trend that worries a lot of economists. Every time we get knocked down, we bounce back more slowly.

– In his piece, Golub blames “uncertainty” and overregulation and Obama’s alleged anti-busines attitude for the poor recovery. So who is Golub? According to the WSJ bio, Golub, “a former chairman and CEO of American Express, is the chairman of Miller Buckfire and serves on the executive committee of the American Enterprise Institute.”

Oddly missing from that list is the fact that Golub was also a former chairman of AIG, having resigned in 2010.

AIG … where have I heard that name before?

Paul

May 23rd, 2012
10:33 am

Mark in midtown

“Relative to the size of the economy, spending has gone way up.”

If spending is within a percent or so for a few years, yet it’s up relative to the size of the economy, is spending really up or has the economy shrunk?

sheesh -

barking frog

May 23rd, 2012
10:33 am

Since Nixon, the U.S. pays
its debts with dollars. The
U.S. can print as many
dollars as it wants due to
an independent Central
Bank, the Federal Reserve.
The dollar(Federal Reserve
Note) can be used to buy
anything. Under this system
deficit, debt, balance of
payments do not matter.

From the Center

May 23rd, 2012
10:33 am

IMHO the bottom line is this country has a debt problem that needs to be fixed. We could aruge all day about who or what is to blame, but that really does not matter. The task at hand is to fix the issue and stop spending more than we have coming in. It is past time for our elected officials to put aside politics and get busy working together to fix the issue.

Butch Cassidy

May 23rd, 2012
10:34 am

Jack – “I have never liked a party that gets elected with promises of eliminating inequities.”

No kidding, what a disaster it was for Reagan to mandate ER care for everyone, and then give amnesty to all those illegal immigrants. You must have torn up your GOP card right then and there.

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
10:34 am

JHM

Yeah. Most of the JB’s went back and forth. Maceo, Fred Wesley, and a few others went back and forth between the JB’s, Parliament, and Funkadelic.

They BOTH suck

May 23rd, 2012
10:35 am

Some of the very right leaning bloggers who have previously stated they love to come on this blog to “piss off” Democrats / liberals seem fit to be tied this morning………..

Irony on your cereal, fruit or toast …………. heck it goes great on anything

heading out for a run, so carry on

td

May 23rd, 2012
10:37 am

Jay,

The problem with the whole article is that they include the $700 billion for TARP. This was a 1 time payment and most of this money was paid back with interest to the Federal government. So when you take out the TARP payments and then look at the budget the writers numbers are skewed way down. The Bush budget, minus TARP and other one time payments, was $2.9 trillion. According to the article Obama’s budget for this year is $3,58 trillion dollars. This is way more then a 1.4% increase.

It appears to me that the one time TARP payment and the stimulus has been added into the day to day budgets.

Joe Hussein Mama

May 23rd, 2012
10:38 am

Brosephus — “Yeah. Most of the JB’s went back and forth.”

And Bernie Worrell’s keyboards go way beyond funk and R&B. If you watch the Talking Heads’ concert movie Stop Making Sense, Worrell is prominently featured right there on stage with the four main band members.

Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette

May 23rd, 2012
10:38 am

From the Center

“We could aruge all day about who or what is to blame, but that really does not matter.”

Must politely disagree.

If we don’t know the who what where when and why of somethin we might just do it again.

Do YOU want to make the same mistakes over again?

Jay

May 23rd, 2012
10:38 am

Explain to me and your other readers how Obama has shown leadership in controlling spending?

I already have, Gordon.

Look at the facts. Look at what has happened. Look at the numbers.

BB

May 23rd, 2012
10:39 am

“Under this system deficit, debt, balance of payments do not matter.” Someone tell this to S&P.

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
10:39 am

From The Center

What do you suggest we do? Check Paul’s post right above yours, and ask yourself this. If spending is pretty close to the same over the past few years, yet the rate of spending percentage to the economy is going up, does that imply that spending is rising or the economy is faltering? Would the economy improve more by cutting spending in a consumer based economy or would it improve more by creating more employment opportunities giving consumers more money to increase their consumption?

williebkind

May 23rd, 2012
10:41 am

I keep reading Jay saying conservative wont accept facts. If it comes from a liberals there are not facts because the information has been skewed to a desired effect. Liberals and facts are not plausible.

saywhat?

May 23rd, 2012
10:42 am

When do we get to hear “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem” again? Now that the spending problem is being addressed, how about we attack that revenue problem?

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
10:42 am

JHM

My only regret in life is one that I had no control over. I wish I could have been born earlier so that I could have had the opportunity to witness P-Funk live when they were at their best. Seeing it on video is pretty cool, but I can’t imagine that experience is remotely anywhere near as wild as being there in person.

——————————

The problem with the whole article is that they include the $700 billion for TARP. This was a 1 time payment and most of this money was paid back with interest to the Federal government.

The stimulus was also one time spending, are you suggesting that not be counted against Obama??? I always thought that government spending was government spending. TARP was government spending, was it not?

BB

May 23rd, 2012
10:42 am

Would the economy improve more by cutting spending in a consumer based economy or would it improve more by creating more employment opportunities giving consumers more money to increase their consumption?
The latter, ask Bill Clinton.

They BOTH suck

May 23rd, 2012
10:43 am

JHM, Bro and Jam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHdZmREV2RQ

Now I’m off for my run

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
10:43 am

Someone tell this to S&P.

Is that the same S&P that prostituted their ratings on toxic investments thereby making them complicit in the economic melt-down?

That S&P?

They can FOAD!

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
10:46 am

If it comes from a liberals there are not facts because the information has been skewed to a desired effect.

The Rupert Murdoch owned WSJ is liberal?

Who knew?

BB

May 23rd, 2012
10:46 am

You are right. We don’t need their silly credit rating. The can FOAD, whatever that is.

Jay

May 23rd, 2012
10:47 am

td, I understand that theory, but here’s where it falls apart:

Essentially, you’re saying that we shouldn’t count TARP because it was a one-time emergency response to a crisis. On the other hand, we SHOULD count the Obama stimulus, the auto bailout and the recession-driven safety net spending, which are ALSO one-time emergency responses to the crisis?

Common Sense

May 23rd, 2012
10:48 am

Why pay attention to the debt when Obama took office and the debt today? Oh, that’s right. We have shifted most of the exploding deficit generating programs off budget.

The only question you need to ask yourself is how much debt per citizen was there when Obama took office and how much is there now.

Is it really up a mere 0.4%?

Not even close.

Gordon

May 23rd, 2012
10:49 am

Jack, Paul, Brosephus,

I have less criticism for Obama for the deficits that have occurred on his watch than most people, even though I am a conservative. On the other hand, I’m not going to praise him or pretend that he is a frugal president since he started from such a high point of spending meant to deal with an emergency situation. Calling him frugal is downright absurd.

My criticism of Obama is the total lack of leadership in controlling spending. He is doing next to nothing to solve the greatest problem facing out country. Whether or not you raise taxes, and whether or not you believe raising taxes will hurt this weak recovery, you are not going to come close to solving our financial problems without entitlement reform. Not only is Obama not doing that, he is proposing massive new spending (see the 9:48 post). He isn’t leading to solve a problem, he is just doing what he always does – proposing more ways to spend money.

We needed a better president than we had in 2008, but we didn’t get one. We need a leader. Things were going to be bad these 4 years no matter who was elected. Any thinking person realizes that. The problem isn’t where we are as much as where we are headed. If you think we are headed to a good place with the policies Obama has in place, I would sure like to know why.

getalife

May 23rd, 2012
10:50 am

Bless their poor lil con hearts .

You just just have to laugh and say they are our crazy uncles and shake your heads.

williebkind

May 23rd, 2012
10:51 am

“The Rupert Murdoch owned WSJ is liberal?”

Liberals sure do not like Rupert Murdoch. He must have earned a lot of money. We know liberals dont like rich folks unless its them…..sick huh.

the cat

May 23rd, 2012
10:53 am

Gordon-please convince me to vote for Romney using actual examples of what he will do.

williebkind

May 23rd, 2012
10:53 am

How much is Obama worth today? In dollars that is…otherwise worthless.

getalife

May 23rd, 2012
10:53 am

Bottom line, saving a depression is very expensive and you have to admit that fact.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
10:54 am

Liberals sure do not like Rupert Murdoch. He must have earned a lot of money. We know liberals dont like rich folks unless its them…..sick huh.

D

E

F

L

E

C

T

I

O

N.

BOB FROM ACCOUNT TEMPS

May 23rd, 2012
10:55 am

FYI JAY – obama has not had a budget since taking office

getalife

May 23rd, 2012
10:55 am

The cat,

Are you saying willard is lying?

Soothsayer

May 23rd, 2012
10:56 am

What I find most ironic about the Fright-Wing posters on this blog is that they howl about the deficits under Obama, but have nothing to say about RepugNOwecan’t’s blocking letting the Bush tax cuts expire.

You will recall that the RepugNOwecan’ts only allowed an extension of unemployment benefits if the Bush tax cuts could remain.

Things you will never hear a RepugNOwecan’t say:

1. We need to reduce military spending
2. We need to let the Bush tax cuts expire

No, it’s much, much easier to blame Obama for a terrible mess he inherited from King Dumbass the First, his predecessor.

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
10:57 am

Gordon

I scrolled over that 9:48 post, and when I went back, I scrolled it again. Wanna know why? Our economy is supported by an overwhelmingly majority of consumption. If we don’t have consumption, our economy tanks. I would LOVE for that consumption to come from the private sector and the people. However, we have corporations and people scared sh*tless to spend a dime now. Who does that leave to prop up the economy until people get the testicular fortitude to resume consumption that we need to grow?

I don’t like government spending any more than most other people. However, if given the choice between a long, drawn out depression because the people who have the money refuse to allocate it or spend it or having the government temporarily prop up the economy by trying to maintain that consumption that we need, guess what my choice will be? When the people who have the money start to put it back into the economy instead of their pockets, we won’t need the government to spend for us.

getalife

May 23rd, 2012
10:57 am

Bob,

You mean congress failed to do their job?

Only missing the main point

May 23rd, 2012
10:57 am

That the federal spending needs to be about $2.2 trillion a year. Grow a pair and make some tough decisions, don’t expand the size of the government, reduce it. Or raise taxes 50% ON EVERYTHING YOU EARN AND CONSUME.

I think I like the former.

So while Rome is burning and President Obama is fiddling, you want to congratulate our government for ‘only increasing spending by 1.4% annually’? Gosh, we’re Greece :) Really shooting for the stars, aren’t we?

Gordon

May 23rd, 2012
10:58 am

the cat,

I can’t. It is less about what he will do than what he won’t do. I don’t think he will spend as much as Obama. I don’t think the numbers presented at 9:48 will be as bad.

But we know what we will get with Obama. If Romney is just as bad, it really doesn’t matter, does it?

St Simons - official approver of E Warren's cheekbones

May 23rd, 2012
10:58 am

“…U.S. can print as many dollars as it wants…Federal Reserve note….
this system, deficit, debt, balance of payments do not matter.”

hell Yessssss, bf. Have you considered accounting as a career?

“the only thing printing money does is devalue the hoarded amount.”
–me, I said that.

the cat

May 23rd, 2012
10:59 am

I do not know whether Willard is lying or not. He never seems to tell me anything about his plan of action.

I do know his wife sure does love to spend the money on her horses. What she spends in one month would feed and house a small town.

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:00 am

Ooooo ……….. I bet you libs. are getting nervous !

“Poll: Romney now leads in crucial state”

“Mitt Romney has now taken a 6-point lead over Obama in the battleground state of Florida.”

getalife

May 23rd, 2012
11:01 am

Will corporate media report this article?

Doubt it.

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:01 am

Kammie:

Continuing ……………….

The Afgan’s did not defeat the Russians. We did with our S.F. support and high tech weapons provided to them.

the cat

May 23rd, 2012
11:02 am

Gordon-really? You have nothing to recommend about Mitt but choose to vote for him over a known entity that is bringing our country back from the disaster that was the Bush years? Seriously you will admit that?

Maybe there should be a qualifier to vote.

getalife

May 23rd, 2012
11:03 am

scout,

mccain was up by 10 so I will be worried if we lose the poll in November because of the gop performance last time they won.

I would prepare for another collapse.

Lord Help Us

May 23rd, 2012
11:03 am

‘The Afgan’s did not defeat the Russians. We did with our S.F. support and high tech weapons provided to them.’

We did by arming and training OBL and the other terrorists that went on to form the Taliban…

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
11:03 am

Has Romney commented on this yet?

Headline: Errant golf ball knocks out motorcyclist’s teeth…

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:03 am

President “FLEXIBLE” :

If this weren’t so scary it might be funny !

“After my election, I’ll have more flexibility”

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?feature=player_embedded&v=-Czo5Vf8KZs

Mary Elizabeth

May 23rd, 2012
11:04 am

“Whether or not you raise taxes, and whether or not you believe raising taxes will hurt this weak recovery, you are not going to come close to solving our financial problems without entitlement reform.”
=============================================

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:04 am

Kammie:

No but Obama did because the golf ball was white and the motorcyclist was black.

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:05 am

Lord Help Us:

Times change …………. Kind of like we helped the Russians defeat Germany ?

getalife

May 23rd, 2012
11:06 am

The gop can’t even cut to pay for the bush tax cuts.

You got punked on cutting spending cons.

Gordon

May 23rd, 2012
11:06 am

Broshphus,

“Growing our way out of this” is an argument that just doesn’t hack it. Republicans use that argument when they suggest cutting taxes. While it (growing economy, not cutting taxes) will certainly help, there is no way we can grow or tax our way out of the fact that we are borrowing 40 cents for every dollar we spend. We borrow the entire cost of running the government at this point (excluding servicing the debt and entitlements).

Our debt is the sign of our financial irresponsibility of the past. Our deficit is the sign of our financial irresponsibility of the present. Unfunded liabilities, especially in Medicare, are the sign of our financial irresponsibility of the future.

The first step is to stop pretending there is an easy way out, like growing or rasing taxes. We must face the fact our spending is out of control, and if we don’t we will deeply regret it.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
11:07 am

We did by arming and training OBL and the other terrorists that went on to form the Taliban…

Yesterday’s “freedom fighters”, are today’s “terrorists.”

St. Ronnie of the RayGun’s legacy.

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:07 am

More “Arab Spring”:

Translation: If you go to Egypt don’t whine and call back here if you have a problem ……… unless you call the White House to thank them for this “Arab Spring” !

CAIRO — “Parts of the ring road encircling this capital are dangerous no man’s lands, unsafe to drive on, by day or night. Kidnappings and bank robberies are common around the city. And women report sexual assaults by taxi drivers, even in broad daylight.

On the eve of the vote to choose Egypt’s first president since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, this pervasive lawlessness is the biggest change in daily life since the revolution and the most salient issue in the presidential race. Random, violent crime was almost unheard-of when the police state was strong.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/world/middleeast/on-eve-of-historic-egyptian-vote-crime-wave-is-the-main-topic.html?_r=1

Mary Elizabeth

May 23rd, 2012
11:07 am

“Whether or not you raise taxes, and whether or not you believe raising taxes will hurt this weak recovery, you are not going to come close to solving our financial problems without entitlement reform.”
==================================================

America had “entitlements” under Clinton, yet Clinton ended his administration with a surplus, not a deficit.

Then came the Bush tax cuts, and the Bush Wars. Voila. High Deficits. Now, we must talk entitlement reform. Game Plan, all along.

JamVet

May 23rd, 2012
11:08 am

Jack – “I have never liked a party that gets elected with promises of eliminating inequities. the concept of justice, of any kind.”

Liberals and facts are not plausible.

Ironic and laughable, huh?

Given who exactly that claim is coming from…

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:09 am

Kammie:

“Yesterday’s “freedom fighters”, are today’s “terrorists.”

Nope. Depends on their tactics.

The Jews in the Warsaw Uprising in WW II were freedom fighters. They killed German soldiers.

The Islamists in Afghanistan are terrorists. They throw acid in girls faces for going to school.

It’s a shame you can’t tell the difference.

Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette

May 23rd, 2012
11:09 am

This is how nervous us libs are:

NATIONAL (ABC/Washington Post): Obama d. Romney (49-46)
NATIONAL (Gallup Tracking): Obama tied with Romney (46-46)

NATIONAL (NBC/WSJ): Obama d. Romney (47-43)

NATIONAL (PPP for Daily Kos/SEIU): Obama d. Romney (47-46)

NATIONAL (Rasmussen Tracking): Obama d. Romney (46-44)

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
11:11 am

It’s a shame you can’t tell the difference.

Ooh, the passive/aggressive card.

That hasn’t worked on me since I was 15 years old.

Better people than you have tried that trick.

Finn McCool (The System Isn't Broken; It's Fixed ~ from an Occupy sign)

May 23rd, 2012
11:11 am

they live in a political Holo-deck in which imagination creates “reality”.

It’s safe in there, Jay, dontcha know?

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:11 am

“President Obama’s same-sex marriage endorsement makes a full quarter of Florida voters less likely to cast their ballots for him, according to a poll released Monday.

Quinnipac’s latest poll of the Sunshine State finds that 25 percent of voters say Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage makes them less likely to vote for him. On the other hand, 11 percent say that it makes them more likely to vote for him.”

25 – 11 = 14% …………. :o

Lord Help Us

May 23rd, 2012
11:11 am

‘Times change …………. Kind of like we helped the Russians defeat Germany ?’

Yea, who’d a ever thought that arming and training Muslim fanatics in the 1980’s was a bad idea…Probably the same geniuses that thought arming and training Saddam Hussein in the 1980’s was smart…

the cat

May 23rd, 2012
11:12 am

Well since Gordon dropped the ball and can’t tell us what Romney’s plan of action will be, can someone else take a shot?

Convince me to vote for Mitt.

stands for decibels

May 23rd, 2012
11:12 am

Will corporate media report this article?

of course not. The number one most-important gotta-read Obama news, per news.google, apparently, is that apparently a some folks voted for “not the ni*CLANG!*” in a coupla states yesterday.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/05/obama-again-struggles-in-southern-primaries/1#.T7z9-lKD_g0

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:12 am

“Beijing’s public restrooms slapped with ‘two-fly’ rule”

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/18601723/beijings-public-restrooms-slapped-with-two-fly-rule

Well, there you go ………………………. first the one child-rule and now the two-fly rule.

JamVet

May 23rd, 2012
11:13 am

Neocons sure do love Rupert Murdoch. He and his gang must have committed quite a few crimes…

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:13 am

Lord Help Us:

You fight your worst enemy with whatever it takes at the time.

Then you move on.

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
11:14 am

Gordon

Growing the economy will enable us to cut spending, correct? If we cut spending now, we potentially put us right back into recession (check European austerity efforts). Growing the economy first helps us start an upward spiral that makes it far easier to cut government spending without adversely affecting our growth.

If you think I’m saying that all we need to do is grow the economy, then you’re not understanding what I’m saying. What I am trying to communicate though, is that simply cutting spending won’t do any good without private sector spending replacing it. If you know otherwise, please share your knowledge.

We must face the fact our spending is out of control, and if we don’t we will deeply regret it.

Did you not even understand what I posted? Did I not say that I preferred spending to be in the private sector? As a last resort, I have no problem with the government stepping in to prop things up. Nowhere did I say that I thought that government should always spend and spend and spend. Read what I said, and not what you THINK I meant.

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:14 am

Kammie:

Has that white golf ball been arrested yet? Maybe Holder will conduct an investigation?

JamVet

May 23rd, 2012
11:15 am

No but Obama did because the golf ball was white and the motorcyclist was black.

BTW, corporal, the cleaners called. Your sheets are ready…

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
11:15 am

Has Romney commented on this yet?

Headline: Hawaii sends AZ proof of Obama’s birth; President will be on ballot …

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:15 am

“Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who helped US track down Al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden and verify his compound location, is convicted of high treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison.”

Thanks for taking care of him El Jeffe !

yuzeyurbrane

May 23rd, 2012
11:16 am

I don’t care. He was born in Kenya, you know.

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
11:16 am

dB

You’re feeding into the blog’s anti-White mantra talking like that. :)

jms

May 23rd, 2012
11:16 am

“When the people who have the money start to put it back into the economy instead of their pockets, we won’t need the government to spend for us.”

People with money are aren’t putting their money under their mattresses. You can be assured they are making rational investment decisions.

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:17 am

JamVet:

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but (your) words will never harm me.”

Is there something you wish to debate ?

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
11:18 am

Has Romney commented on this yet?

Headline: Dallas Pizza Chain Giving Away Free Pizza For Ordering In Spanish…

rightwing troll

May 23rd, 2012
11:18 am

Our most godly member is on a roll today…

Like I said… unhinged…

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
11:19 am

Has Romney commented on this yet?

Headline: Flashing headlights to warn of speedtrap protected under Constitution…

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:20 am

yuzeyurbrane

“I don’t care. He was born in Kenya, you know.”

Nope. All the evidence points to Hawaii. Doesn’t matter anyway, as his mother was an American.

Now ……………….

Since his brochure showed him as being born in Kenya up until 2007, I would like to know how he registered as a student at Columbia and Harvard. As a foreign student?

The statue of limitations is long gone but that would be fraud “if” it happened and would certainly go to his character. Just release those records Mr. Obama and we can clear this up in a day.

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
11:21 am

People with money are aren’t putting their money under their mattresses. You can be assured they are making rational investment decisions.

Did I say they were not making rational decisions??? What may be rational and even financially beneficial to you might not be so peachy keen for the economy as a whole, Bain Capital as the perfect example of that. Investors made money big time, but not everybody who interacted with Bain, or companies like that, come out smelling like roses and loaded with cash. I don’t begrudge anybody doing what’s best for them. Hell, that’s the “New American Way”. Nobody gives a sh*t about country anymore. It’s all about self intersests.

Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes

May 23rd, 2012
11:21 am

Has Romney commented on this yet?

Headline: Man Ticketed for Dropping Money on Ground…

real john

May 23rd, 2012
11:23 am

From the OMB tax office

Spending

2001 $1.862 (trillions)
2002 $2010
2003 $2.159
2004 $2.292
2005 $2.472
2006 $2.655
2007 $2.982
2008 $3.517
2009 $3.456
2010 $3.603
2011 $3.795
2012 $3.803

It appears that you have a big jump in spending from 2008-2009 which skews the numbers as a percentage jump. The percentage may not be going up a lot, but no one can deny a big jump in the last 5-10 years. The bottom line is since 2002, spending has increased roughly $1.7 trillion a year and has almost doubled.

Jefferson

May 23rd, 2012
11:23 am

Expanding the war in Afganistan is about the only thing the President has done bad/wrong since he became the President. All blame is just the GOP’s mo to keep their power base.

0311/8541/5811/1811/1801

May 23rd, 2012
11:23 am

Hey Kammie:

How about my 11:09 ?

Gordon

May 23rd, 2012
11:24 am

Elizabeth,

First of all, under Clinton we did not balance the budget because we didn’t (and still don’t) take into account the unfunded liabilities that entitlements create. For example, if the company you work for has a retirement plan, it must book that as a current liability. The government does not do this. It is true for a short time we took in as much as we sent out for a given year, but the government is on the hook for future costs that are accruing.

Second, the GROWTH of entitlement spending is the issue. It is growing at a much faster rate than our economy. This causes debt, which generates interest payments, which is a multiplier effect.

All you really need to do is look at what we are spending as a percentage of GDP now, projected 10 years from now, and 50 years from now. The numbers speak for themselves. The cost of the war is small in comparison (in financial terms).

By the way, Clinton had a Republican Congress the last 6 years of his presidency. One of the things they initiated was welfare reform. They get no credit for the “balanced” budget right? Also, the dot com bubble was during the second half of Clinton’s presidency. That had nothing to do with a “balanced” budget either, did it?

Republicans have their myths, and so do Democrats.

JamVet

May 23rd, 2012
11:25 am

Is there something you wish to debate ?

Sure, why are you so racially biased against blacks as though this is still the 1950s?

Were your parents racists, or did you acquire this skill on your own?

Have you ever sought treatment to help you with your animus towards black people?

Or at least sought a professional explanation why you are so obsessed with the failings of blacks while NEVER mentioning the failings of whites?

Did you have some traumatic experiences with blacks?

Just for starters…

the cat

May 23rd, 2012
11:25 am

0311etc.-convince me to vote for Romney. Do you folks have anything?

Recon 0311 2533

May 23rd, 2012
11:25 am

You should not have included your graphic Rex. Just by looking at it one can see that Bush was roughly $20.5 trillion over 8 years to Obama’s nearly $15 trillion in 4 years! Given that rate, Obama is spending 46% more than Bush. The bigger difference is Bush created more jobs in the first year and a half than Obama in 3 and a quarter. For that matter, he created more in his last year and a half than Obama has to date. -Knightwatchman

Joe Hussein Mama

May 23rd, 2012
11:27 am

0311 — “Ooooo ……….. I bet you libs. are getting nervous !”

Why?

“Mitt Romney has now taken a 6-point lead over Obama in the battleground state of Florida.”

I’ve told you before, Obama doesn’t *need* FL to win. And Romney would have to take MANY states that aren’t currently in his column in order to win the Presidency. I’m not worried at all.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

I’d be pleased for Obama to win FL, and I’m sure he’d like to win it, but it’s not necessary for him to take FL in order to win re-election. The electoral math still strongly favors Obama.

Obama is over

May 23rd, 2012
11:27 am

Jay, Jay, Jay, @ 10:33

Harvey Golub was never Chairman of AIG. He was appointed Chairman of the board in 2009 to oversee the repayment of the $130 Billion the taxpayers put into AIG IN 2008. He resigned after his recomendations to sell parts of the company in order to pay back the taxpayers were ignored. I would like to point out that part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act recently signed by our business savy president allows research analysts to provide opinions about emerging companies before, during, and immediately after IPOs- effectively breaking down the Chinese walls established to seperate research from investment banking created by Elliot Spitzer in 2003. Just as with Dodd-Frank, the Obama administration continues to create legislation that does nothing to protect individuals from systematic risk and only makes the environment worse.

Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"

May 23rd, 2012
11:27 am

JamVet

You’re adding to the anti-White mantra here… Just thought I’d point that out. It’s oozing out of the pores here.

the cat

May 23rd, 2012
11:28 am

TaxPayer

May 23rd, 2012
11:28 am

Any Republicans shown up with data and an ability to discuss it honestly.

Joe Hussein Mama

May 23rd, 2012
11:29 am

0311 — “The Afgan’s did not defeat the Russians. We did with our S.F. support and high tech weapons provided to them.”

This is like saying that Seal Team 6 didn’t get OBL; President Obama did it all by himself.

Logic FAIL.

mm

May 23rd, 2012
11:30 am

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”

George Patton

Perfectly describes the present Republican party.

TiredOfTheLies

May 23rd, 2012
11:30 am

Won’t see that info on FOX ‘news’.

Gordon

May 23rd, 2012
11:31 am

“What I am trying to communicate though, is that simply cutting spending won’t do any good without private sector spending replacing it. If you know otherwise, please share your knowledge.”

What I am saying is that our spending is out of alignment with what we produce. What we produce will not increase enough to satify our current or projected spending. Therefore spending must be reduced. We will have to get by on less. When a family is spending too much, they must ultimately live in a smaller house, have fewer cars, send the kids to less expensive colleges, etc.

When a government is in the same position, it must ultimately cover less in its medical plan, raise retirement ages for its old age plan, made do with a smaller defense, and try to raise more revenue through higher taxes.

That’s all I’m saying. There is no easy way out. Get used to that idea.

JamVet

May 23rd, 2012
11:32 am

Bro, the guy must have recurring nightmares about hooded, “suspicious” people in his neighborhood!

And especially since the Martin killing, he has just begged to be called out for this kind of racial stereotyping and I’m just the guy to call him out!