The Republicans have been trying for the last four years to paint President Obama as a "big spender". In fact, out of the last five presidents, President Obama has the smallest growth in spending of any of those presidents (and President Clinton had the second smallest growth in spending). The three Republican presidents had the largest percentage growth in spending, with President Reagan having the biggest growth, followed closely by President Bush (II).In fact, President Obama, has been a moderate (if not downright conservative) in terms of the growth of spending. Even after passing a stimulus bill and Obamacare, President Obama has held the increase in spending down to a paltry 1.4%. To claim that President Obama is a "big spender" is at the very least a misstatement of fact. Personally, I'd call it an outrageous lie.
Now we finally have a part of the mainstream media that is willing to admit this truth -- and it is certainly no liberal publication. It is the very conservative and business-oriented Wall Street Journal. Here is some of what Rex Nutting has to say in the MarketWatch section of the WSJ:
Of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree. As would-be president Mitt Romney tells it: “I will lead us out of this debt and spending inferno.” 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. Even hapless Herbert Hoover managed to increase spending more than Obama has. Here are the facts, according to the official government statistics: • In the 2009 fiscal year — the last of George W. Bush’s presidency — federal spending rose by 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. Check the official numbers at the Office of Management and Budget. • In fiscal 2010 — the first budget under Obama — spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion. • In fiscal 2011, spending rose 4.3% to $3.60 trillion. • In fiscal 2012, spending is set to rise 0.7% to $3.63 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the budget that was agreed to last August. • Finally in fiscal 2013 — the final budget of Obama’s term — spending is scheduled to fall 1.3% to $3.58 trillion. Read the CBO’s latest budget outlook. 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%. There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear.
It is refreshing to see a conservative paper willing to admit the truth. Of course this will have no effect on the right-wingers in the Republican Party. They prefer ideology over truth, and are not about to be confused by inconvenient things like facts.
