CHART: The Gobsmacking Drop In Government Spending Under Obama...TPM

[KoKo]

TPMDC
CHART: The Gobsmacking Drop In Government Spending Under Obama


Sahil Kapur June 5, 2012, 5:04 AM 16568

The conventional wisdom that President Obama has overseen a dramatic surge in government spending has always been shaky. But it faces perhaps its starkest rebuttal in new figures that reveal the sharpest decline of the last half-century in real federal, state and local spending during this presidency.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the new figures in the Federal Reserve Economic Data arrive just days after a lousy jobs report that has exacerbated fears that the economy may be in worse shape than expected. In recent years, state and local governments have received little federal aid to close their budget shortfalls and have therefore made large spending cuts since Obama’s 2009 stimulus expired.

“That saps demand still further aggravating a downturn and inhibiting a recovery,” said Chad Stone, chief economist for the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “State fiscal assistance in the 2009 recovery act was largely gone by 2011 and state spending cutbacks continued due to pressures for budget austerity in many states and at the federal level.”

The government spending cuts have come about amid a mood of austerity incubated by Republicans across the country shortly after Obama took office.






http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/federal-reserve-economic-data-chart-real-government-spending-obama-recovery.php?ref=fpblg

[aquart]

1. And now you know why the economy is crawling.

[annabanana]

2. No fucking WONDER the damn recession won't go away!. . .n/t

[cthulu2016]

3. The three problems with this story

This is a very important econmic reality of which everyone should be aware.

But it is a senseless "under Obama" story.

1) The people who would view this favorably will never believe it. Ever. And they will vote against Obama by about 98%.

2) It has nothing to do with Obama. The cuts are state and local. Obama has done nothing to cause or encourage them.

3) If Obama was responsible for this then he should be removed from office because it is a terrible, disastrous trend. Fortunately, he had nothing to do with it. (see #2)

[KoKo]

4. It's a combined chart and comes from "Talking Points Memo"...hardly some site that is not Pro Obama.

Just so you know. This has also been posted on "Liberal Financial Websites" (Yes...believe it or not...there ARE Liberal Financial Websites) ...so it's something that needs to be thrown up in faces of the Repugs who claim Obama is a big Government Spender and the "biggest spender" of all our Presidents. It's just not true and fling it in the face of the RW'er Romney/Paul Crowd and see what they do.