Number Crunched

I was going to engage in my favorite sport of pointing out why Jim Pethokoukis is a meathead, but John Cole handily and beat me to it.

You’d think that would be the end of it. But not when you have outrageous hacks like James Pethokoukis on the case. You all remember him, right? He’s the clown who, in AUGUST OF 2008, was denying that we were in a recession. He then, a few months later in October 2008, was forced to admit we were in recession (since the economy had crashed and the DOW had dropped 5,000 point), decided that the reason the economy tanked and the DOW dropped was because investors were afraid that Obama was leading in the polls, otherwise known as the Goldberg theorem. He later theorized that Obama’s interaction with Joe the Plumber would cost Obama the election. His crimes against reality and reason are so severe that we’ve almost had to dedicate an entire server to document the atrocities, but yet, for some reason, he is still held in some regard in some circle-jerks circles.

Jim attacks this solid article by Rex Nutting at CBS Marketwatch showing that the Obama administration's "record deluge of government spending growth" is in fact...not.

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. 

You want to know why deficits have exploded?

THE BUSH TAX CUTS.

And that's because during the recession, revenues have plummeted.  Because Barack Obama cut taxes even more on middle class families and businesses, just like economists advised him to do and Republicans screamed at him to do.  Again, total government spending has remained flat.  Revenues have dropped.  Republicans will never, ever let us raise revenues.  Ever.

And that's where Jim comes in, saying that as a percentage of GDP, spending under Barack Obama was up.  This is true.  You want to know why? 

THE ECONOMY CRASHED.

The economy crashed, to spending remained constant but the GDP contracted.  Therefore spending as a percentage of GDP went up.  That's called "math."  When revenues and GDP both decrease, and spending remains constant, deficits and debt go up.

The other thing that's constant?  Jim Pethokoukis is a hack.