Obama Shatters Spending Record for First-Year Presidents November 24, 2009 "The federal government spent $3.5 trillion during President Obama's first year in office. This far exceeds the spending for any other first-year president. President Obama has shattered the budget record for first-year presidents -- spending nearly double what his predecessor did when he came into office and far exceeding the first-year tabs for any other U.S. president in history. In fiscal 2009 the federal government spent $3.52 trillion -- $2.8 trillion in 2000 dollars, which sets a benchmark for comparison. That fiscal year covered the last three-and-a-half months of George W. Bush's term and the first eight-and-a-half months of Obama's. That price tag came with a $1.4 trillion deficit, nearly $1 trillion more than last year. The overall budget was about a half-trillion more than Bush's for 2008, his final full fiscal year in office. That's a big increase. But compared with other presidents' first years in office, Obama is running circles around them. Bush spent $1.8 trillion in 2001, according to government budget figures that have been adjusted for inflation based on 2000 dollars. Using the same formula, former President Bill Clinton spent $1.6 trillion in 1993. The last president to clock in under $1 trillion was Gerald Ford, who logged a $982 billion budget in 1975. Post-war Dwight Eisenhower even brought Uncle Sam's tab down to $556 billion in his first year, 1953. Obama's first-year budget, adjusted for inflation, is about five times that. His 2009 budget is also close to 21 percent of that for Clinton's eight years in office -- Clinton's spending added up to $13.5 trillion over his two full terms. Bush spent $16.8 trillion from 2001-2008."
Obama Shatters Spending Record for First-Year Presidents Let me be the first to put a positive spin on this. Obama finally (drum roll please)... ACCOMPLISHED SOMETHING!
One would think a president concerned about mounting job losses, a struggling economy, would be reading some material along those lines. Nope, GQ with a cover story about Obama is some fascinating stuff to Obama:
And yet we're not spending enough. While the rest of the planet spends stimulus money like drunken sailors (I guess, unlike us, they have faith there will be a tomorrow), and their economies are racing ahead, we remain in our politically correct hole. But like I said elsewhere, if Obama keeps up this stingy release of funds, the world's recovering economy may pull us up anyway, and we'll have a far lower tax bill than they will.
Because the US economy is still weak. Jesus, we're getting our asses kicked out there. I'm glad my business sells abroad, and thank god for the weak dollar.
Without getting too detailed and possibly biting the hand that feeds me: I'm in the oil and gas sector, compression (and process) equipment.