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
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813 comments Add your comment
Soothsayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:29 pm
Crude oil falls below $90.00/barrel. Dow off 180 points.
TaxPayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:29 pm
Between 2001 and 2010, the Bush tax cuts added $2.6 trillion to the public debt, 50 percent of the total debt accrued during that time. Over the past 10 years, the country has spent more than $400 billion just servicing the debt created by the cuts.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 23rd, 2012
12:29 pm
O.K. Going out on “patrol” now.
Everyone be nice.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
May 23rd, 2012
12:29 pm
TO ALL THE LIBERAL GENIUSES WHO CLAIM AUSTERITY HAS FAILED IN EUROPE SO THEREFORE THEY NEED TO SPEND
where are they going to get the money????
GERMANY IS TAPPED OUT AND WILL NOT PAY FOR THE REST OF EUROPES SPENDING WAYS ANYMORE
china will only lend more but at HIGHER RATES
SO ONCE AGAIN, WHERE DOES EUROPE GET THE $$$$$$$$$$ TO SPEND?????
PJ
May 23rd, 2012
12:29 pm
0311 — “States have to honor other states drivers licenses so while were at it let’s through in gun toter’s licenses also …………. or do you want to pick and choose what states have to honor ?????”
Don’t forget to marriage licenses, all should be honored including Gay and Lesbian with your logic and I agree.
Well aint that something
May 23rd, 2012
12:30 pm
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
Saw it. Thank you for the reply and exchange
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 23rd, 2012
12:30 pm
JamVet:
“That said, no one in authority is trying to take your guns away from you or force you to get rid of them”
You don’t even have the thinking skills to keep track of your own conversations.
Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"
May 23rd, 2012
12:31 pm
Doomy @ 12:17
I’m guessing you didn’t see where Jay stated:
“(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.)”
Also, Obama did not sign the FY2009 budget into law. Hence, counting Bush’s spending from 2002, and Clinton’s from 1994, and so on. Don’t let ideology trip you up over the things that are right before your eyes.
Madmax
May 23rd, 2012
12:31 pm
SPC – Jay doesn’t try to write constructive articles, he writes articles to stir the pot of discord by feeding his band of worshipers what they want to hear. It is an “opinion” column.
Looney Bin
May 23rd, 2012
12:32 pm
How come none of the posters that claim “this is a lie” don’t argue with those who claim “this is true but it’s only due to the GOP Congress”?
Mick
May 23rd, 2012
12:32 pm
After 2000 years of christian theology, I think ghandi was just being very observant, could it be that the hardcore christians are the ones that are getting it all wrong? They seem to be very judgemental and intolerant laced with 100% certainty about their rules. Jesus broke the rule about the sabbath, is that not symbolic?
JamVet
May 23rd, 2012
12:32 pm
Mary Elizabeth at 12:16,
Word.
Especially in light of that non-rebuttal by Max…
George W. Bush
May 23rd, 2012
12:33 pm
Worst president EVER!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pojL_35QlSI&ob=av2e
Recon 0311 2533
May 23rd, 2012
12:33 pm
I see that the libs are changing to subjects other than the original thread topic. Understandable, since Jay’s Ray Nutting article has been debunked.
Soothsayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:34 pm
Don’t forget: them budget surpluses means ‘Murcans is being overcharged.
Well aint that something
May 23rd, 2012
12:34 pm
Mick @ 12:32
I’m with you. He based it on the Christians he met. Is that all Christians? not hardly, but apparently that was his take based on the ones he encountered
JamVet
May 23rd, 2012
12:34 pm
Kam, he dares not answer two simple questions from me at 12:17, but includes me in his conversations with god knows who!
real john
May 23rd, 2012
12:35 pm
Rickster…Dead on..
The percentage Jay is mentioning is very misleading.
Let me give you an example…Lets say you have Tom earning $50k a year but spending $55k a year for the last three years. This year Tom spendings $75k a year. For the next three year, Tom spent $76, $77, 78K, respectively. So you COULD try to argue that Tom isn’t spending as much the last three years. Well, of course as a percentage that would be true. However, that doesn’t take into account the year that Tom went from $55k to $75K a year in spending.
If you look at my post where I list the total outlays by the U.S. in the last 10 years, you see a dramatic jump from 2008-2009. From there the spending has gone up more slightly. However, because of the large increase in the first year, the following year’s percentages are much less. It still doesn’t change the fact that the U.S. will spend almost double what it did 10 years ago in 2002. In 2002, the U.S. spent roughly $2 trillion. In 2012, the U.S. gov. will spend about $3.8 trillion. So again, total spending has almost double in 10 years…
Those are the facts in Actual dollar amounts
TaxPayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:35 pm
Here is a little overview of what Bush did for the deficit and debt versus what Obama did.
Mike
May 23rd, 2012
12:35 pm
Jay, as all math students know, statitics can be made to show what the author intends. If The President and congress had any cohones, they could raise the needed revenue by making the 50% of Americans who pay no taxes and in fact get refunds often due to tax credits that shouldn’t exist. this would certainly go along with the President and his leftist pals idea of shared sacrifice. Why is this alternative never mentioned by you, liberal economists and the 4th estate?
Thulsa Doom
May 23rd, 2012
12:36 pm
Frontman,
Thanks for the article. I’m glad some people were able to see the easy sleight of hand by Nutter. You can fool some people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. I’m just saddened and disappointed that so many people couldn’t take their blinders off and see through this deception. Anyway here is an excerpt from his article which echos pretty much what I said although in better terms of course.
Per capita spending is up, absolute spending is substantially way up from pre-2009, and the government spending as a % of GNP is certainly up. One misleading stat does not change all that. And I’ll repost your link in case someone missed it.
How did Mr. Nutting come up with this trickeration and mathematical sleight of hand? He attributes all of the 2009 spending (except the Stimulus) to Bush instead of Obama and he uses the year to year percent increases as his comparison metric.
It is true that the government spending of the president’s first year in office is mostly approved by the previous president but Obama supported and voted for the Tarp spending and he didn’t try to reign in any of this spending during 2009. Obama actually wanted a larger stimulus in 2009 (to the tune of an additional $1 trillion) so that hardly sounds like someone who is austere and wanted to keep the US on a tight budget. So attributing the spending of 2009 to Obama is completely fair in my book.
Since the spending for 2009 was so huge (an increase of 16% over 2008 when comparing per capita spending), the subsequent comparisons of 2010 to 2009 would indeed show a lower (or in this case negative) spending increase as will comparing 2011 to 2010. But that doesn’t mean spending in 2010 and 2011 was reduced to pre 2009 levels and I’ll show that in a graph at the end of this post. Using this comparative metric is a mathematical sleight of hand and is not indicative of reduced government spending.
http://cosmoscon.com/2012/05/22/obama-is-a-big-spender/
stands for decibels
May 23rd, 2012
12:36 pm
Bottom line is the debt tripled under Reagan and doubled under George W Bush. Under Obama it has increased about 25%.
“but but scary raw numbers!”
–most every WATB Gooper faithful posting here
Stonethrower
May 23rd, 2012
12:37 pm
Mick, the writer of the rules did not break the rule. He merely explained the day was made for man and not man of the day. In my opinion these “hard core Christians” are merely modern day Sadducees and Pharisees. “Didn’t come to call the righteousness but sinners to repentance”
real john
May 23rd, 2012
12:40 pm
Exactly Thulsa Doom…good post
Thulsa Doom
May 23rd, 2012
12:40 pm
Brocephus,
Re-read this paragraph. It explains in a nutshell why this is statistical sleight of hand. And as I said in per capita terms, in terms of govt spending as a % of the economy, and in absolute terms govt spending is substantially way up. A little trickeration does not change that central point.
Since the spending for 2009 was so huge (an increase of 16% over 2008 when comparing per capita spending), the subsequent comparisons of 2010 to 2009 would indeed show a lower (or in this case negative) spending increase as will comparing 2011 to 2010. But that doesn’t mean spending in 2010 and 2011 was reduced to pre 2009 levels and I’ll show that in a graph at the end of this post. Using this comparative metric is a mathematical sleight of hand and is not indicative of reduced government spending.
http://cosmoscon.com/2012/05/22/obama-is-a-big-spender/
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
12:40 pm
M. Righty — “You Democrats have to get this straight. Every year Clinton was president the United States Debt increased. Look it up, it is an indisputable fact.”
Nope. Wrong.
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/42911
Open the XLS file and go to Table F-1. Look at the rows from the mid-90s through about about 2003 or so. You will see that the Total figure (representing the amount of annual deficit or surplus) goes from deficit to surplus in 1998, and then back to deficit in 2002. You will also see that the Debt Held By The Public figure DECREASES in 1999, 1999, 2000 and 2001. So your “indisputable fact” is just plain wrong.
“How in H–l can you say your budget is in balance and had a surplus when you spent evry dollar that came in plus had to borrow to pay your debt?”
Because you’re operating off incorrect numbers. Plus, you don’t seem to understand that you’re talking about TWO DIFFERENT THINGS, annual budget and overall national debt. You can have a *surplus* in an annual budget and *still* have an overall national debt. These numbers demonstrate it.
“As I say, look it up. Any Almanac will do.”
Already ahead of you, Cowboy.
“You will also find the only budget that has been balanced since WW2 was Eisenhower who actually paid down the debt one year.”
Wrong. Clinton did it from 1999 – 2001. And no, I didn’t vote for Clinton either time. But he *did* manage budget surpluses, whether you want to believe it or not.
Thulsa Doom
May 23rd, 2012
12:42 pm
real john,
thanks but don’t credit me. Credit frontman for smelling something fishy and of course the writer who much more easily explained how deceptive these stats are than I could.
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
12:43 pm
good, if Obama is really that spend thrift, then all we have to do is raise taxes and we will have a balanced budget, there are no need for any spending cuts, except for the military, we should only have a standing army of only 200,000. that is all we need. Oh, we can stop subsidizing oil too! But continued spending for the NEA and NPR, promoting more birth control usage, promoting more people to use food stamps is imperative to our economy.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
12:43 pm
0311 — “Totally disagree.”
Your evidence, please?
“The 2nd Amendment is a “right”. Homosexual marriage is not.”
If you want to be a Richard about it, marriage isn’t a right conferred on ANYONE by the Constitution. So we’re left only with the definition of marriage as a civil right, and you have no legal justification to restrict marriage based on your silly contention that it’s not a “right.” (laughing)
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
12:44 pm
”
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
12:43 pm
Hear, hear!
getalife
May 23rd, 2012
12:44 pm
The gop is pretty much a zoo with the animals slinging poo.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
12:45 pm
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
12:43 pm
Damn Joe!
You’re good!!
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
12:45 pm
K’Chak — “You don’t even have the thinking skills to keep track of your own conversations.”
That wasn’t JamVet, that was me. And what were you trying to say, please?
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
12:46 pm
Getalife,
How are you doing now?
Soothsayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:47 pm
OK, Thulsa, I think I’ve got it now. Obama passed the tax cuts, started two unfunded wars, passed an unfunded Medicare Part D Big Pharma giveaway, caused the economy to collapse, caused the housing market to collapes, and caused the banking system to collapse.
I don’t how anyone can argue with that. Why, the WSJ article is just pure bunk. It’s all Obama’s fault!
Thulsa Doom
May 23rd, 2012
12:47 pm
real john @ 12:35,
Dang. I just now read your whole post. That is probably the easiest, most understable explanation of this misleading article.
Soothsayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:48 pm
Oh! I almost forgot: passed tax laws that encourage entire industries to move operations offshore to countries like China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Mexico.
barking frog
May 23rd, 2012
12:49 pm
get a life
playing the zoo poo card .
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
12:49 pm
It is time we institute wage control on all executives! if it wasn’t for the worker, there wouldn’t be a sucessful corporation. They cut wages and employee benefits and employees way too much. It’s time that a CEO make no more than the President of the US! That should be the ceiling on what executives get paid. It’s time we truly make efforts to increase wages to the lower class at a significant rate!
UNCLE SAMANTHA
May 23rd, 2012
12:49 pm
REAL JOHN & THULSA DOOM
expect the sound of crickets from the LEFT
#1…… if its not FUZZY MATH they wont understand it
#2…….it debunks the lie that they want to believe
the cat
May 23rd, 2012
12:49 pm
Just asked this question on galloway’s blog.
Is a mormon a christian?
BeeJay
May 23rd, 2012
12:50 pm
Everything is not black and white – or cut and dried – and as soon as we think it is, we are shown how stupid and short-sighted we are.
Thulsa Doom
May 23rd, 2012
12:50 pm
Soothsayer,
If you think that one man only caused the housing meltdown which was front and center the reason behind the 07 recession than I just don’t know what to say to you. The housing meltdown was years in the making with many culprits on both sides of the aisle and in govt and in the private sector behind it. But that’s a story for another day. I’ve got to run out on an afternoon appointment but I’ll be back later.
getalife
May 23rd, 2012
12:50 pm
When have you cons been right about anything?
The adults are in charge.
You act like children so I am sending to time out.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
12:51 pm
Normal Free — “Damn Joe! You’re good!!”
That’s nice of you to say, but there’s a really simple principle in operation here. Marriage is *not* an enumerated right, and the Founders had little or nothing to say about it in their writings. Therefore, there’s no Constitutional basis for restricting marrages based on the races or genders of the participants.
At that point, marriage becomes a CIVIL right, not a Constitutional one, and we don’t put civil rights up for public vote in this country. Thus the plebescites the GOP has been pushing in recent years are beside the point and willl fall by the wayside soon enough.
You can’t stop it, cons, no matter how much you don’t like it.
Ivan
May 23rd, 2012
12:51 pm
“So again, total spending has almost double in 10 years…”
..just wait until Obamacare is in full swing.
getalife
May 23rd, 2012
12:52 pm
Normal,
I am feeling pretty good.
How are you?
Shawny
May 23rd, 2012
12:52 pm
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
Ok, so here it comes.
Increases of spending by Bush II were off the chart. WAY WAY too high. Even so, instead of spending reductions, in the face of a poor economy resulting in lower federal intake, we added increases in spending on top of what Bush II did. No wonder the debt is so insurmountable.
hmmmm.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
12:52 pm
Doom — “If you think that one man only caused the housing meltdown which was front and center the reason behind the 07 recession than I just don’t know what to say to you.”
It wasn’t one person; it was two people.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
I know it’s true because I read it on Free Republic.
Mary Elizabeth
May 23rd, 2012
12:52 pm
Tundra Dude, 11:51 am
“Mary Elizabeth wrote, in part:
Then came the Bush tax cuts, and the Bush Wars. Voila. High Deficits. Now, we must talk entitlement reform. Game Plan, all along.
Forgot the Big one. The collapse of the $8 trillion housing bubble, which was driving the economy
with a construction and consumption boom.”
===========================================
Remember Bush’s slogan for his administration that the nation would become an “Ownership Society.” The idea was to push more people to owning homes so that they would take “personal responsibility” for their own wherewithal, instead of relying on “the government,” with home ownership starting the impetus in that direction. That is well in theory and most people would support personal independence, but the people who propelled this plan were compulsive in their pursuit of “every man or woman for him/herself.” What they missed in their ideological rigidity is that the American people are, also, all connected to one another. In fact, that is why we have government: “We the people. . .” “A government of, by, and for the people.”
Moreover, what they did not understand, in their insensitivity and ideological purity, was that John Doe of the projects did not start “the economic game” with the same advantages as the Bushes, et al. Even in golf, those who are not as advantaged as other players are given “handicapped points” to make the game more fair as it is being played out. The Bush administration, and many present day Republicans, do not seem to understand this interconnected we all have with one another as citizens.
The housing bubble burst was not just a matter of judgmental error by some Republicans, including Greenspan, evidently. It was also judgmental error by some Democrats. There is nothing wrong with promoting a program whereby more people can own their own homes. Both Republicans and Democrats promoted that program.
But if one combines that idea of home ownership for the masses, in a climate of national greed and personal financial self-interests being dominant as a cultural ideology, then the combination of all of those elements will more than likely create a nation in which greed has gone wild, and bankers and Wall Street players will look after number one, exclusively. That is what propelled the Recession, in my opinion, and it became worldwide in its impact.
Greed is not good. Egalitarianism is.
Thulsa Doom
May 23rd, 2012
12:53 pm
Uncle Samantha,
This speaks more to the shocking inability of people to readily see through obvious, deceptive and misleading statistics than anything else. And its very sad. Anyway I’m out for awhile.
Soothsayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:54 pm
“If you think that one man only caused the housing meltdown”
One man did cause the housing meltdown and his name is Alan Greenspan. And his tenure was during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Conversely, let’s imagine everything that happened on Bush’s watch happened on a Democrat’s watch. Do you think the Fright-Wing would give him a pass? Give me a break!
getalife
May 23rd, 2012
12:54 pm
Ivan,
How much did willardcare cost Mass.?
Is willardcare working?
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
12:55 pm
No more spending cuts except on the military which needs a real reduction in force, stop giving oil companies tax breaks! stop giving big tax breaks for big farms and corn producers too! Raise corporation taxes to a hard 40% with no deductions, institute a millionaire tax of 30% and if you are worth a hundred million or more, there should be a net worth tax of 20% for those worth a 100 million, it should be 40% on those who are worth a billion or more! It is time to balance the budget and we should not make anyone who earns less than 50,000 a year pay one dime more in taxes! In fact, they should be getting a 15,000 dollar return every year! We can do this, Warren Buffet, George Soros, Bill Gates, Koch Brothers are not paying their fair share! It is time to take from them what they’ve stolen from us!
Soothsayer
May 23rd, 2012
12:56 pm
I love how the Fright-Wing have devised this rationale that supposedly debunks the points made in Jay’s article. I think what you are posting as your rationale is a bunch of meaningless crap.
getalife
May 23rd, 2012
12:56 pm
The gop wants to spend 642 billion on the military and they call that cuts.
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
12:57 pm
Amen getalife, military spending should only be about 90 million total!
weetamoe
May 23rd, 2012
12:58 pm
I think all bills originate in the House and that all appropriations are passed by congress, so there has been some frugality there but who is responsible for that? In addition there are those awful tax cuts that have *starved* programs into necessary frugality. Looking at the whole picture, it is hard to square skin flint leanings with a president who according to staff demands that the thermostat in his living quarters be kept at 78 degrees during winters when folks in the midwest are shivering because of power outages caused by ice storms because he *likes it balmy.* As it is hard to square a president’s empathy with those who cannot afford a decent square meal as he dines on wagyu beef and quaffs expensive scotch.
getalife
May 23rd, 2012
1:00 pm
I want my,
I think the mic has been fed enough trillions.
We need to get a grip on defense spending.
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
1:01 pm
our president deserves to eat and drink what he chooses! weetamoe, you just hate our president!
Soothsayer
May 23rd, 2012
1:01 pm
If spending during the Obama administration increases from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion in 4 years, that’s a small spending increase no how you try to spin it. Forget percentages or other rationales, it’s a small increase. There’s no other way around it.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 23rd, 2012
1:01 pm
That wasn’t JamVet, that was me. And what were you trying to say, please?
Joe Hussein Mama
I understand perfectly it was you. It was le petit caporal that I was quoting.
My point was that le petit caporal doesn’t have the mental capacity to keep track of his own conversations.
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
1:01 pm
like I said getalife, time to reduce military spending to about 90 million annually…..
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
1:02 pm
weetamoe — “As it is hard to square a president’s empathy with those who cannot afford a decent square meal as he dines on wagyu beef and quaffs expensive scotch.”
When your party’s response to people who are out of work and having a hard time is ‘get a job, hippie,’ you’re no longer entitled to call others out regarding a perceived lack of empathy.
getalife
May 23rd, 2012
1:03 pm
Sadly, congress can’t even cut welfare to corps. making record profits.
Talk about government waste.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
1:04 pm
K’Chak (I love saying that because it sounds Klingon) — “I understand perfectly it was you. It was le petit caporal that I was quoting. My point was that le petit caporal doesn’t have the mental capacity to keep track of his own conversations.”
Ah. Thank you for the clarification. Alles klar, Herr Commissar. XD
Brosephus™ - "Browning America Since 1973"
May 23rd, 2012
1:04 pm
Doom: Since the spending for 2009 was so huge (an increase of 16% over 2008 when comparing per capita spending), the subsequent comparisons of 2010 to 2009 would indeed show a lower (or in this case negative) spending increase as will comparing 2011 to 2010. But that doesn’t mean spending in 2010 and 2011 was reduced to pre 2009 levels and I’ll show that in a graph at the end of this post. Using this comparative metric is a mathematical sleight of hand and is not indicative of reduced government spending.
You wanna talk about sleight of hand??? How about shifting goalposts…
Nobody’s claiming that Obama reduced spending. The article states that the rate of spending growth is slower. That doesn’t matter regardless to what kind of one year increase happened prior. No president has spent less in their last year than what they spent in their first year in recent history, so the whole trying to count 2009 as some anomality is false logic.
You’re trying to argue that Obama has not reduced spending, but you’re jousting that Burning Strawman in doing that. The whole debate is on the slowing down of the rate of spending increases. When you can disprove that, then you’ll convince me of your point. Otherwise, you’re fighting a debate that nobody’s having.
I want my wealth redistribution check!
May 23rd, 2012
1:06 pm
time to institute a net worth tax on those worth more than 100 million! if they decide to leave the country, we seize it all! this country made them rich! they owe us the extra tax revenue!
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
1:07 pm
Getalife,
If I was any better, I’d be illegal! Got the blood sugar back to normal and have resigned myself to no more pecan pie, but I do feel better. Glad to hear you are too.
JamVet
May 23rd, 2012
1:08 pm
Wanter, you are what is known as a useful tool.
Or the perfect neocon…
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m18vz8H8pc1qz4sr8o1_400.jpg
curious
May 23rd, 2012
1:11 pm
Last night it was mused. Did Bain ever think about maybe taking only $80 million out of that bankrupt plant and putting the remaining $20 million into the employee pension fund which was wiped out?
Bain wouldn’t been able to get that $100 million if the employees hadn’t been doing something right along the way.
A little empathy for the workers would have been nice.
stands for decibels
May 23rd, 2012
1:12 pm
This “I want my wealth” (who, I assume, was posting before as “I’m a liberal”) guy must be one of those righty regulars who gets all angry n’ sh-t whenever he reads a Redneck Convert post and then goes “I’ll show them! Two can play this game!”
…and then he finds out that successful parody is a buttload harder than it looks.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
1:12 pm
JamVet
May 23rd, 2012
1:08 pm
OMG!!
A picture IS worth a thousand words!!!
Matti
May 23rd, 2012
1:12 pm
Weetamoe @ 12:58,
OMG, you would have our President drink cheap Scotch? TREASON!!!
G Mare 71( got the living' the red state BLUES!)
May 23rd, 2012
1:12 pm
Re Mormons bing Christian: the longer name is Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Mighty Righty
May 23rd, 2012
1:13 pm
Joe, pick your year. Below from U.S.Government in real dollars not adjusted for inflation.
Gross Public Debt
Fiscal Years 1990 to 2000 Year GDP-US
$ billion Gross Public Debt -fed
.
1992 4001.79 a
1993 4351.04 a
1994 4643.31 a
1995 4920.58 a
1996 5181.46 a
1997 5369.21 a
1998 5478.19 a
1999 5605.52 a
2000 5628.70
Note: Debt increases every year.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
1:16 pm
Righty — “Joe, pick your year. Below from U.S.Government in real dollars not adjusted for inflation.”
No link. no nothin’. Typical.
I gave you a link and told you where to look. Take a hike with your no-link-havin’ ‘data.’
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
1:17 pm
http://news.icanhascheezburger.com/2012/05/23/political-pictures-what-about-the-underdog/
Jefferson
May 23rd, 2012
1:17 pm
To ingor debt for 30 years and now to harp on it is pissy poor and childish.
stands for decibels
May 23rd, 2012
1:17 pm
your no-link-havin’
Name-caller! I’m telling Teach.
Rebecca
May 23rd, 2012
1:18 pm
This is nothing new. The gang over at MSNBC produces similar charts almost nightly showing that the GOP’s statements to the contrary are partisan claptrap. Kudos to Rachael, Ed, Lawrence and Chris for their constant vigilance in keeping us informed and enlightened. But the fact that the above figures, coming from the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, adds credibility to “rumors” that Barack is on target and a sound leader. Vote for Obama in 2012! — let’s deflate McConnell’s bubble.
Midori
May 23rd, 2012
1:19 pm
you all are making me laugh so hard!!
I had to close the door so everyone can’t hear me.
Bro, Fred and Granny G — you all owe me a new monitor!!!! It’s now dripping with iced tea
JamVet
May 23rd, 2012
1:19 pm
Normal, pretty representative, I would say.
The fallout of years of listening to the 1% mooches like Rush, Sean and Neal.
Actually, the average neocon strikes me as little more than the sad little old lady who gives her last dime to the televangelist frauds, only to find out that she wasn’t helping anyone but them. (Don’t you think the $3000 Italian suits that those frauds were wearing were kind of a giveaway, grandma?)
http://tinyurl.com/7are8d7
Billybob
May 23rd, 2012
1:19 pm
ahhhhhhhhhhhh…..this guy also said the stimulus saved millions from poverty and saved the economy……$5 trillion jay…..you can’t spin that one…..but keep trying
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
1:20 pm
Once again, Righty, take a nice close look.
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/42911
Click on the link to the Excel workbook. Open Table F-1, “Revenues, Outlays, Deficits, Surpluses, and Debt Held by the Public Since 1972.”
Read. Digest.
Then come back and talk.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
1:21 pm
Bishop’s conference or GOP “Tea” party…
http://history.icanhascheezburger.com/2010/09/20/funny-pictures-history-bad-party/
Mighty Righty
May 23rd, 2012
1:22 pm
“Last night it was mused. Did Bain ever think about maybe taking only $80 million out of that bankrupt plant and putting the remaining $20 million into the employee pension fund which was wiped out?
Only a liberal would even remotely think an employer has a responsibility to provide employment and income to employees. An employer has one responsibility. That is to make a profit for its investors. Liberals believe employees are slaves and have no free will. Employees are free to sell their services to who and for what amount they choose.
Billybob
May 23rd, 2012
1:23 pm
hey jay,
obama’s vision in the budget he presented earlier this year that didn’t receive one democratic vote saw our debt at $26 trillion by the end of the decade…….frugal and obama do not belong in the same sentence and you can try all you want to ignore my fact here……people see the parrot in the room……wanna’ cracker?
Gordon
May 23rd, 2012
1:24 pm
Mary Elizabeth (sorry I called you Elizabeth before),
At the end of the day, common sense must kick in. And common sense says that if you spend half agains as much as you take in, it will lead to disaster. It has happened many times in history. If you are really a voice for the poor and non-powerful, you should be 100% against this runaway spending, because when the bottom falls out they will be the most affected.
One might argue we need more revenue through higher taxes. Fine, but until you get it you don’t spend it like you have it. In a financially sane world, revenue drives expenses, not the other way around. The numbers just don’t add up for either growing or taxing our way out of this mess. Those are fine, but they won’t do the job. That is reality.
Talking Head
May 23rd, 2012
1:25 pm
Thank God Obama hasn’t produced annual increases in spending at the other percentages previous President’s have done. He already has the titles for: the most federal spending in one year, the highest budget deficit ever, the most added to the national debt in one term. He’s already achieved so much.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 23rd, 2012
1:26 pm
Righty — “Only a liberal would even remotely think an employer has a responsibility to provide employment and income to employees.”
Actually, businesses came up with the idea THEMSELVES after WWII, as a means of attracting and retaining desirable employees.
“An employer has one responsibility. That is to make a profit for its investors.”
I believe you have “employer” mixed up with “mafioso.” Actual employers have a number of other responsibilities, including maintaining the business as a going concern, following applicable Federal, state and local regulations and mitigating risk, both financial and physical.
“Liberals believe employees are slaves and have no free will. Employees are free to sell their services to who and for what amount they choose.”
And conservatives are terrified of unions, despite the fact that employees form them and join them of their own free will.
Moderate Line
May 23rd, 2012
1:26 pm
Mary Elizabeth
May 23rd, 2012
10:15 am
Moderate Line, 9:41
“Now, I find it hard to blame FDR for not predicting the affects of demographics on a program he started in the 30’s. Keep in mind I think President’s have somewhat limited control over the economy.”
========================================
Moderate Line, although I am not trained in economics, I do know that – even with the so-called entitlements of Medicare and Social Security (which I prefer to call part of FDR’s Second Bill of Rights for all Americans) – at the end of Bill Clinton’s administration, the U. S. had a surplus not a deficit. I, also, believe Paul Krugman’s assessment (”The Bankruptcy Boys, 2/22/10, NY Times) that the Bush administration deliberately drove up the deficit in order to dismantle these “entitlements” for the American people.
I am well aware of the surplus under Clinton. Clinton did a great job with the deficit. Bush did not. Where have I defended Bush in any way. I believe Bush tax cuts should be repealed. I did not support the war in Iraq. However, Obama is not doing a very good job on the economy or the deficit despite having ridding himself of Republican greed( Sarcasm). At some point you have to take responsibility of what happens on your watch.
Matti
May 23rd, 2012
1:29 pm
Mighty Tighty @ 1:22,
You may want to put that little speechlet on a 3×5 card for easy reference/memorization. It might come in handy when you’re defending yourself in the revolution your type of “employers” will force if they continue to get their way via purchasing the government and spitting on people who actually work for a living. Suggested follow up: Dramatic pause, and then, ‘It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.”
**CHOP!**
You’re welcome.
Mighty Righty
May 23rd, 2012
1:29 pm
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/charts
Joe, the Congressioanl Budget Office is a well known manipulator of facts for the left wing of the Democrat Party as was demonstrated during the Obamacare fiasco on cost. (They were only off 100%) I prefer actual dollars as listed above.
JamVet
May 23rd, 2012
1:32 pm
An employer has one responsibility. That is to make a profit for its investors.
Once again, made up of thin air nonsense. But at least you are consistent…
What is it with you parrots and your perverted neocon version of post-apocalyptic capitalism?
He has MANY responsibilities.
Jeebus on a Popsicle stick…
PJ
May 23rd, 2012
1:34 pm
Mighty Righty @1:22 pm
You are off the reservation and missing that talking point.
“The rich are the job creators so they need tax cuts.”
Get back on track bud. The truth is supossed to be a secret.
Moderate Line
May 23rd, 2012
1:34 pm
Brosephus™ – “Browning America Since 1973
Nobody’s claiming that Obama reduced spending.
++++++++
News flash! Obama most frugal president since Ike
Did I miss something? Frugal typical doesn’t mean you are increasing your spending less than someone else but you are actually spending money less than everyone else.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 23rd, 2012
1:35 pm
Bro’
For your collection maybe…
http://scifi.icanhascheezburger.com/2012/05/21/sci-fi-fantasy-star-trek-soon-i-will-have-my-own-meme/
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
May 23rd, 2012
1:35 pm
Don’t try and confuse me with facts. If all the good Republicans say Obama is the biggest spender ever, that’s good enough for me. I don’t need no facts to know what to beleive.
kayaker 71
May 23rd, 2012
1:36 pm
JamVet, 1:32,
Enlighten us. What is the role of business in this country?