President Obama has shelled out more in federal spending than the five presidents that came before him.
A new chart by the Comeback America Initiative (CAI), a non-partisan group dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility by policymakers, shows federal spending by president as a percentage of GDP, and it doesn’t reflect well on Obama.
“There has been a dramatic increase in spending under the Obama administration,” David Walker, Founder and CEO of CAI, told Whispers. “Most of it is attributable to year one of his presidency and the stimulus… but President Obama has continued to take spending to a new level.”
Federal spending was close to 20 percent under the Carter administration, dropped to 18 percent under Clinton, and is currently at an incredible 24 percent of GDP. According to theCongressional Budget Office, federal spending may hover around 22 percent for the next decade.
Federal spending is also higher this year than any year since 1949. The last time spending was higher—in 1946, it was 24.8—the country was just coming down from the exorbitant rates of spending during World War II.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he would cut federal spending down to just 17 percent of GDP.
President Obama is facing some heat over the economy Friday after a depressing job report showed the jobless rate climbed to 8.2 percent in May.
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#1ChrisJune 8, 2012, 4:16 pm
The bar chart wrongly gives Bush the credit for Clinton’s 2000-2001 budget surplus and blames Obama for Bush’s 2008-2009 budget disaster.
Bush increased the deficit by 285% and 308% in his last two fiscal years and broke the record for largest deficit 4 times during his 8 years. Bush increased spending by 89% during his 8 years. Obama has increased spending by 2.6% per year (about the rate of inflation).
What’s more, Obama has accumulated an extra $600 billion just to pay the interest on the Bush debt. And now do-nothing republicans want to put another George Bush in the Whitehouse.
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