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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — 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.

Government spending under Obama, including his signature stimulus bill, is rising at a 1.4% annualized pace — slower than at any time in nearly 60 years.
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.


The big surge in federal spending happened in fiscal 2009, before Obama took office. Since then, spending growth has been relatively flat.
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.

Why do people think Obama has spent like a drunken sailor? It’s in part because of a fundamental misunderstanding of the federal budget.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
• 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.

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
• 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.

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Bush was president in the 2009 fiscal year from Oct. 01, 2008 to January 22, 2009, or just short of four months.

Obama was president from January 22, 2009 to Sept. 30, 2009, or just over 8 months.

Not sure how all spending in fiscal 2009 suddenly becomes Bush's spending, considering that at least $825 billion was the economic stimulus package Obama signed in Feb. 2009.

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When Obama took the oath of office, the $789 billion bank bailout had already been approved.

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Originally posted by Kwicko:


From the article:

When Obama took the oath of office, the $789 billion bank bailout had already been approved.

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Originally posted by m52nickerson:
"Why do people think Obama has spent like a drunken sailor? It’s in part because of a fundamental misunderstanding of the federal budget."

That sums it up pretty nicely.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:

But you can't trust the WSJ-- they're part of the " vast lib'rul media conspiracy", aren't they? Yanno, that "Lame stream " one?

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Originally posted by Kwicko:

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Originally posted by Geezer:

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Originally posted by Kwicko:
• 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.

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Bush was president in the 2009 fiscal year from Oct. 01, 2008 to January 22, 2009, or just short of four months.

Obama was president from January 22, 2009 to Sept. 30, 2009, or just over 8 months.

Not sure how all spending in fiscal 2009 suddenly becomes Bush's spending, considering that at least $825 billion was the economic stimulus package Obama signed in Feb. 2009.

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From the article:

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When Obama took the oath of office, the $789 billion bank bailout had already been approved.

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[Obama] is responsible (along with the Congress) for about $140 billion in extra spending in the 2009 fiscal year from the stimulus bill, from the expansion of the children’s health-care program and from other appropriations bills passed in the spring of 2009.

If we attribute that $140 billion in stimulus to Obama and not to Bush, we find that spending under Obama grew by about $200 billion over four years, amounting to a 1.4% annualized increase.

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Originally posted by kpo:
Geezer check the article, the author goes on to reassign the 2009 stimulus to Obama, and all his graphs reflect that.

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Obama is responsible (along with the Congress) for about $140 billion in extra spending in the 2009 fiscal year from the stimulus bill, from the expansion of the children’s health-care program and from other appropriations bills passed in the spring of 2009.

If we attribute that $140 billion in stimulus to Obama and not to Bush, we find that spending under Obama grew by about $200 billion over four years, amounting to a 1.4% annualized increase.

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But the stimulus package ended up being $800 billion plus, and the plan was to spend 75% of it by Sept. 30, 2010

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not sure where the "$200 billion over four years" figure comes from.

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Then again, it might be more useful to find if there are that many articles about an Obama spending binge.

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Originally posted by kpo:
Oh, I missed this:

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Then again, it might be more useful to find if there are that many articles about an Obama spending binge.

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Do you not think that accusation has been levelled a lot at Obama?

?

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history...

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