OBAMA THE BIGGEST SPENDER OF THEM ALL, PUTS THE USA ON THE PRECIPICE OF UNSUSTAINABLE DEBT AND COLLAPSE-THAT'S CHANGE FOR SURE!

Obama Defeats FDR (in Spending Other People’s Money)
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey

After he signed a law last week authorizing the U.S. Treasury to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion, President Barack Obama delivered a characteristically sanctimonious speech. It was about his deep commitment to frugality.

“After a decade of profligacy, the American people are tired of politicians who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility,” he said. “It’s easy to get up in front of the cameras and rant against exploding deficits. What’s hard is actually getting deficits under control. But that’s what we must do. Like families across the country, we have to take responsibility for every dollar we spend.”

To put Obama’s Olympian hypocrisy in perspective, one need only examine the federal budget tables posted on the White House website by Obama’s own Office of Management and Budget.

They reveal these startling facts: When calculated by the average annual percentage of the Gross Domestic Product that he will spend during his presidency, Obama is on track to become the biggest-spending president since 1930, the earliest year reported on the OMB’s historical chart of spending as a percentage of GDP. When calculated by the average annual percentage of GDP he will borrow during his presidency, Obama is on track to become the greatest debter president since Franklin Roosevelt.

Obama will outspend and out-borrow the admittedly profligate George W. Bush, a man Obama and his lieutenants routinely malign for fiscal recklessness and who, when in office, was often hailed even by his allies as a Big Government Republican. Obama will even outspend—but not quite out-borrow—his fellow welfare-state liberal FDR, who had to contend with both the Depression and World War II.

In determining this was the case, I credited the presidents prior to Obama with the federal spending and borrowing that occurred during the fiscal years that started when they were in office. I credited Obama with the spending and borrowing that his own OMB estimates will occur during the fiscal years from 2010 to 2013, which are the four fiscal years starting during Obama’s four-year term. (Before fiscal 1977, fiscal years ran from July 1 to June 30. Since then, they have run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.)

FDR was inaugurated in March 1933 and died in April 1945. He is thus responsible for the 12 fiscal years from 1934 to 1945. During those years of depression and world war, according to OMB, federal spending averaged 19.35 percent of GDP. During Obama’s four fiscal years, OMB estimates spending will average 24.13 percent of GDP. That is about 25 percent more than under FDR.

In the first eight fiscal years of FDR’s presidency, before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, federal spending as a percentage of GDP never exceeded 12 (despite the Depression). During those years, it averaged only 9.85 percent. Under Obama, annual spending as a percentage of GDP will average almost two-and-a-half times that much.

In fiscal 1942, when the U.S. started dramatically ramping up expenditures to fight World War II, federal spending equaled 24.3 percent of GDP. In 2010, the first full fiscal year of the Obama era, spending will reach 25.4 percent of GDP.

Under current estimates, Obama will not beat FDR’s overall record for borrowing, although he will nearly double FDR’s pre-World War II rate of borrowing. From 1934-41, FDR ran annual deficits that averaged 3.56 percent of GDP. Obama, according to OMB, will run average annual deficits of 7.05 percent GDP. When you include the war years of 1942-45, FDR ran average annual deficits of 9.76 percent of GDP. Even without a world war, Obama’s overall prospective borrowing is at least competitive with FDR’s.

And Obama and FDR share one historic debt-accumulating distinction. By OMB’s calculation, they are the only two presidents since 1930 to run up annual deficits that reached double figures as a percentage of GDP. Obama will run up a deficit this year of 10.6 percent of GDP. The last time the deficit hit double digits as a percentage of GDP was 1945 -- when Germany and Japan surrendered.

The U.S. won the Cold War without ever running a double-digit deficit. President Reagan’s highest deficit was 6 percent of GDP in 1983 -- and he bankrupted the Soviet Union not the United States.

So how does Obama compare with the much-maligned George W. Bush? In Bush’s eight fiscal years, annual federal spending averaged 20.43 percent of GDP, significantly less than Obama’s estimated 24.13 percent of GDP.

Bush ran annual deficits that averaged 3.4 percent of GDP—and that includes fiscal 2009, when the deficit soared to 9.9 percent of GDP and Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus bill (some of which was spent in fiscal 2009) after Bush left office. Obama, according to OMB, will run deficits that average 7.05 percent of GDP—or more than twice the average deficits under Bush.

The bottom line on Obama: He puts our money where his mouth is.

Reader CommentsThe following comments are posted by our readers and are not necessarily the opinions of either CNSNews.com or the story’s author or this blog.

rank
We can not afford this man's frugality any longer!

melvinwinter
A couple of related parodies: Video: Next Generation Reacts to Record Debt Increase: http://optoons.blogspot.com/2010/02/reactions-to-passage-of-record-high.html Obama Economic Advisers Found in Jungle Cave Thinking World War II Not Ended http://optoons.blogspot.com/2010/02/obama-economic-advisers-found-in-jungle.html

rhyytinen (3 hours ago)
BREAKING NEWS..... Obama, Reid and Pelosi have abolished the 13th amendment. They have enslaved all the legal American children to massive debt that is impossible to repay. they also have enslaved everyone to the progressive religion that chokes freedom and liberty. It is kind of ironic a black man brought slavery back to America. I wonder if they will have to pay reparations one day. Obama, you are no Abe Lincoln.

RightStuff
I was doing fine until 2007 when the Democrats took majorities in the House and Senate. Since then, the stock market has been it the toilet. I've lost over $100,000 in my retirement accounts since then. When Barack Obama opens his mouth, the stock market takes another dive. Obama continues to defecate and step in it. I agree that he will be ejected from office as early as 2011 from some major scandal which will come to light from some of his old buddies who are smart enough to realize Obama is bad for this country and the world. The man is either really dumb, or he is intentionally trying to bring this country down. We can't afford having him in office much longer, no matter what his problem is. He is BAD NEWS for U.S. citizens.

cooperscopy
Spending is through the roof, but the rhetoric is even more ridiculous...He has to stop blaming Bush and begin to take responsibility.....The problem is, no one believes anything he says any more....... http://cooperscopy.blogspot.com/

bigpat
Nice article on HOPEY/CHANGEY 'tax and spend'! Is it Jan 20, 2013 yet???

ConservativeTM
The big government bubble is soon to burst. Watch for the stock market to lose over 50% of its value this year and for Obama to be ejected from office in 2011. The future will be difficult, but true hope and change is on the horizon http://conservativetm.blogspot.com/2009/10/32-bubble.html

mickrussom
Mandatory spending: $1.89 trillion (+6.2%) (FY2009) * o $644 billion - Social Security o $408 billion - Medicare o $224 billion - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) o $360 billion - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending o $260 billion - Interest on National Debt Please note the ADMINISTRATION costs of all this psychotic spending is in the DISCRETIONARY budget and is not listed here. (e.g., Social Security is ~ $9 billion/year) REPEAT: 64%++ of our federal budget is: Social Security, Welfare, Workfare, Interest on Debt, Medicare, Medicaid. This has proven over time to be the biggest financial mistake ever made, and China and India don't have to repeat what is dooming the USA to be a second-world country.

mickrussom
These "Tea party" issues have percolated up with Ross Perot several times before. One might take a look at perotcharts.com before spouting off about progressivism being a good thing (The top 1% earners pay 40% of all taxes. The top 10% pay 60% of all taxes, yet there is "more" wanted by the supposed proles, but more like its incited class warfare to create division despite the evil rich paying a lot of the freight.) . Yet, as Perot and folks like Ron Paul were laughed at in the past, now not so much. You see, they (Perot, Paul, others) basically predicted the future with shocking accuracy. The deficits, the spending beyond income even during prosperity, the perpetual wars and the unfunded social entitlement programs that have no hope of working even during good economic times is eclipsing American power.

mickrussom
Yeah, sure. Jobless recovery, right? With old-method unemployment calculations in the 20% range, and the State lie being @ 10%. Seems dire in an economy whose GDP is 70% spending. (Note the media often compares old-method numbers (which are higher) to new method, this in and of itself is propaganda). Treasuries - 80% were bought by the Federal Reserve in 2009. Interest rates unsustainably low, and if the rates pop to attract new investors, debt service load will go form 6-8% of budget to multiples of that. 1 in 6 FHA loans in the trailing 12 months is delinquent. Deficit spending is at an all time high and burgeoning when there is potential to need to raise rates to attract treasury investors. Very, very dangerous to be there. China this week unloaded 32 billion in treasuries. Japan is now #1 holder of debt. US borrows Chinese money to arm Taiwan, and wonders why China is upset.