Morning Bell: Stop Digging

Conn Carroll / February 06, 2009

Another day, another poll showing public support for President Barack Obama’s Trillion Dollar Debt Plan sinking fast. Trying to turn these numbers around, Obama went on the offensive yesterday delivering some red meat to House Democrats at their posh Resort and Spa retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. Defending his plan, Obama told Democrats: “[We] are not going to get relief by turning back to the same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. … I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office. … What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending — that’s the whole point! Seriously.”

Seriously, where has Obama been the last eight years? What does he think got us into this mess? Where does he think those deficits came from? Here are the facts. Before President Bush took office, the federal government took in $2 trillion in revenue in 2000. In 2009, the federal government is expected to take in $2.4 trillion. After eight years under President Bush, the federal government is taking in $400 billion more a year in revenue. So why did Congressional Budget Office project a $1.4 trillion deficit for the 2009 budget? Massive spending increases. As McClatchy reports “George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he’s arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ.” McClatchy goes on to detail Bush’s spending binge including an 18% increase in education (more…)