Obama fares well in imaginary futures; not so much in actual reality. So he says: "We've got to move forward to the future we imagined in 2008." Imaginary future from the past are so much better than the reality.
And then there's the imaginary history of past spending, being recounting lately by Mr. Obama, as if his first-term spending and debt boom never happened. To do such a thing does takes a lot of imagination, yes, imagination reminiscent of the imaginary Big Lies of Joseph Goebbels. So Obama actually says, with a straight face, mind you, that: "...federal spending since I took office has risen at the slowest pace of any President in almost 60 years." WHAT??
As you pick yourself up from the floor from the ROFL reaction to this whopper, it may nevertheless be worth examining the Big Lie and breaking it down into its constituent Little Lie pieces, for the sake of knowing the truth. So below are the creative manipulation details of the spending accountability on which are based the phoney claims of the spending manipulation troika. This troika consists of:
Mr. Rex Nutting (a previously unknows writer for Market Watch),
Mr. Jay Carney (a previously unknown reporter for Time magazine), and
Mr. Barack Obama (a previously unknown community organizer in Chicago).
Here are the troika's spending manipulation details:
Creative Manipulation of Spending Accountability Correction #1:
In his first year in office in 2009, Mr. Obama is only credited with spending $140 Billion of stimulus spending. The remaining $865 Billion (which actually ballooned up to $940 Billion in full) of the 2009 Stimulus package signed by Obama, is erroneously credited by the troika to George W. Bush by an accoounting sleight of hand.
Creative Manipulation of Spending Accountability Correction #2:
Obama's spending growth rate in in 2010, 2011, and 2011 is measures against an inflated 2009 baseline that includes the spending Mr. Obama caused but which he attributes to Mr. Bush. This is like an alcoholic claiming that his rate of drinking has slowed because he had only 22 beers today and 25 beers yesterday.
Creative Manipulation of Spending Accountability Correction #3:
In actuality Mr. Obama's spending has increased by close to 5% a year. An apples to apples comparison by CBO says that the total federal spending was $2.98 trillion in 2008 and has risen every year to reach $3.72 trillion in Mr. Obama's fiscal 2013 budget.
Creative Manipulation of Spending Accountability Correction #4:
As as a share of GDP, Obama has spent:
25.2% (2009)
24.1% (2010)
24.1% (2011)
24.3% (2012 Estimated)
Note 1: Prior to Obama, between 1994-2008. federal spending as a share of GDP ranged between 18%-21%.
Note 2: To those who say this elevated spending is due to the lousy economy, it is worth noting that the recession officially ended nearly three years ago, in mid-2009 !
Creative Manipulation of Spending Accountability Correction #5:
The total national debt has increased $5 Trillion dollars in the last 4 years, on Mr. Obama's watch. Debt held by the public now stands at 74.2% of the economy, up from 40.5% at the end of 2008.
Summary
To say, as Mr. Obama does, that "...federal spending ...has risen at the slowest pace of any President in almost 60 years" is to do a full Monte Joseph Goebbels Big Lie performance.
Moreover, this Lie is a laughably transparent Big Lie, made in the face of available data on the increase in public debt, which increased from 40.5% (2008) to the current 74.2%, and an increase in the national debt from $10 Trillion (2008) to the current nearly $16 Trillion after Obama's ongoing spending spree.
No comments:
Post a Comment