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
PJ
May 23rd, 2012
4:52 pm
pogo @4:44 pm
Hate to admit it but that was funny.
Redneck Convert @4:47 pm
Should have knowned, you would have done a better job.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 23rd, 2012
4:52 pm
Just hope he doesn’t pick another “Snowbilly”…….
Gonna have to do something to appeal to moderates. The base will hold their nose and vote for him anyway.
They BOTH suck
May 23rd, 2012
4:58 pm
ir(rational)
If you are still on check out this clip.
Jm posted it the other day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHN0ZeS5c-4
(ir)Rational
May 23rd, 2012
5:01 pm
TBS – I’m leaving, but will check it out when I get home (and have speakers). Y’all have a good evening.
Tom Middleton
May 23rd, 2012
5:04 pm
Now we need Governor Romney to get specific about his budget proposals for a would-be term in office.
How will he create jobs through more tax cuts for the wealthy when that didn’t work at all under Bush?
How will making the middle class pay higher taxes help create a more vibrant economy, especially since that would mean less money to spend?
Where does he intend slashing government, especially since eliminating government jobs will not be ADDING jobs to the economy in any way, shape, or form? Social Security? Medicare?
We’ve already been told for certain that it won’t be the military, even though former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, a Republican appointee, said there’s plenty of fat to cut in the military budget.
And since Governor Romney slashed the Massachusetts’ education budget during his one term in office, how does he intend to help the states keep from laying off teachers, as some have done, or does he?
And lastly, when will the Governor score his plan (give us the independently validated numbers), so We The People can make an informed comparison before we vote. Never, you say? He would lose for certain, you say? I knew it!
Brosephus™
May 23rd, 2012
5:06 pm
Bro – I think I understand your post – you were trying to support Jay’s position that Obama is frugal. That’s BS and you know it.
No. That’s pure bullshit*t as that is nowhere near what I posted. You have three major issues there. First, you’re trying to think for me. Next, you’re trying to think for me, and your thinking is clouded by partisan rhetoric. Finally, your last problem is you’re not thinking at all but spewing rhetoric. If I need to explain further, let me know.
Brosephus™
May 23rd, 2012
5:10 pm
Bro – I think I understand your post – you were trying to support Jay’s position that Obama is frugal. That’s BS and you know it.
No. That’s pure bullsh*t as that is nowhere near what I posted. You have three major issues there. First, you’re trying to think for me. Next, you’re trying to think for me, and your thinking is clouded by partisan rhetoric. Finally, your last problem is you’re not thinking at all but spewing rhetoric. If I need to explain further, let me know.
Obama spending binge never happened! « The Fifth Column
May 23rd, 2012
6:16 pm
[...] News flash! Obama most frugal president since Ike (blogs.ajc.com) [...]
Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
May 23rd, 2012
10:05 pm
You can thank the Republican House for all of this. The Manchurian Candidate did enough damage in his first two years, however.
Y’all should get this information out – might have helped Emperor Nero in the Democrat primaries in Arkansas and Kentucky.
That is the Democrat way – take credit for the good work others do, and blame your screw-ups (which are legion) on somebody else.
Jym Allyn
May 24th, 2012
7:24 am
Being “anti-Obama” seems to be the new benchmark for stupidity and gullibility.
Gm
May 24th, 2012
4:59 pm
If 3 times college drop out scum Sean Hannity dont say it, the retards on the right will not believe facts,.
independent thinker
May 24th, 2012
10:18 pm
We all know that Obama is secretly a socialist or communist and just waitng for reelection to unleash the floodgates of spending. May be even start a couple of unfunded wars to satisfy the chickenhawks on the other side like that W. guy did and declare Mission Accompolished when we are getting the crap beaten out of us by insurgents.
Bill
May 26th, 2012
9:46 pm
You really expect the American people to believe this? You think we are that stupid? Don’t believe this for a moment. They just shifted all the dates so the massive spending increase of 2009 appears to be under George Bush.