Bush's spending vs. Previous Presidents

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-07-21 08:05pm

Here are some inflation-adjusted statistics measuring the percentage government spending has grown in each of the most recent administrations:

Carter 4.2%

Reagan, first term 3.5%

Reagan, second term 1.8%

George Bush 1.9%

Clinton, first term 1.0%

Clinton, second term 1.9%

George W. Bush (first two years) 5.3%

And this, my friends, is why I can never vote for George W. Bush.

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2003-07-21 08:50pm

Source? This looks interesting.

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-07-21 09:02pm

That number might go down if Bush really cuts spending in the last year or so of his term, but I doubt it'll happen.

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2003-07-21 09:08pm

The Department of Homeland Security guarantees that he's not going to be able to cut his spending very much. He MIGHT be able to get under Carter, but not that likely.

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2003-07-21 09:16pm

Didn't President Bush run as a fiscal conservative?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-07-21 09:31pm

Iceberg wrote:Didn't President Bush run as a fiscal conservative?

Not really. He was more fiscally conservative that Al Gore, but fiscal conservatism wasn't really much of an issue in the 2000 race (if you've got a surplus, you've gotta spend it, of course, even if it's imaginary). He ran proposing a few new government programs, chiefly the prescription drug benefit that he recently made good (or bad, for the rest of us) on.

Source? This looks interesting.

From a WSJ column. I found the statistics elsewhere; you have to pay to read the column.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-07-21 09:45pm

In proposing a $48 billion defense budget increase for 2003 following a large increase in 2002, President George W. Bush has followed in the budgetary footsteps of former President Ronald Reagan and Reagan’s defense secretary, Caspar Weinberger. Adjusted for inflation, Bush’s 2003 defense budget would be $50 billion higher than the 2001 budget. By 2007, the real dollar defense budget would go up $30 billion more, approaching the peak levels of the Reagan years

The Pentagon’s budget in 2007 would be a full $100 billion greater than what the Clinton administration had envisioned for that year in its own long-term plan. And as noted, these figures would approach the peak levels of the Reagan years, as well as those of the Vietnam era (see figure 1).

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-07-21 09:48pm

In 1999, the DoD budget was 300~ billion. Now, its 378 billion, an increase of
26%! Global War is expensive boys and girls!

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2003-07-21 09:48pm

The military spending doesn't bother me that much, although we could save some cash by pulling out of countries that no longer require us for defense (Japan, all of Europe, and at least diminishing our presence in Korea). What bothers me is the Homeland Security bullshit and the new giveaways.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-07-21 09:52pm

Durran Korr wrote:The military spending doesn't bother me that much, although we could save some cash by pulling out of countries that no longer require us for defense (Japan, all of Europe, and at least diminishing our presence in Korea). What bothers me is the Homeland Security bullshit and the new giveaways.

What bothers me is our military budget isn't at LEAST 500 billion! Cut all
the damned social programs! I want at least 1 new CGN commissioned each
year from now on damnit!

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-07-22 08:20am

Congressional pork has seen record rises in the last couple years with estimates of its value running into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Cut all that shit and that would be the end off the deficit.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-07-22 04:24pm

Between military spending and campaign promises from Bush and Congress I'm not suprised.