Regardless of budget deficits and national debt, there is a time to save and a time to spend. Republican austerity has made this recovery extraordinarily slow. Republicans wouldn't allow Obama the same fiscal courtesy as shown to Reagan and Bush to spend out of recession.
If it were up to Obama, the federal government would have spent much more since 2010. Moreover, these numbers are, in large part, functions of the economies the three men inherited. Each saw a recession in their first term, but Obama's was by far the worst, and so it led to much more severe cutbacks in state and local spending.
Rather, these graphs simply establish a basic fact about Obama's term: While deficits have indeed been high, government spending and investment has been falling since 2010. This is, in recent presidential administrations, a simply unprecedented response to a recession.
Basic economic theory would hold that you want a larger contribution from government spending during a big recession in which private demand is weak than you do during a mild recession or a healthy economy. But that's been the case in Obama's economy, and all signs are that the pace of government spending cuts will accelerate sharply over the next year.
Phil Klein argues that it's important to note spending skyrocketed in 2008, and so Obama was starting from an abnormally high baseline, and so the comparison between change in government spending under Obama and change in government spending under other presidents is flawed. That's absolutely true. But it's applicable to much more than just government spending. The jump in spending in 2008 was the direct and sole consequence of the financial recession.
Charts: What if Obama spent like Reagan? - The Washington Post
If it were up to Obama, the federal government would have spent much more since 2010. Moreover, these numbers are, in large part, functions of the economies the three men inherited. Each saw a recession in their first term, but Obama's was by far the worst, and so it led to much more severe cutbacks in state and local spending.
Rather, these graphs simply establish a basic fact about Obama's term: While deficits have indeed been high, government spending and investment has been falling since 2010. This is, in recent presidential administrations, a simply unprecedented response to a recession.
Basic economic theory would hold that you want a larger contribution from government spending during a big recession in which private demand is weak than you do during a mild recession or a healthy economy. But that's been the case in Obama's economy, and all signs are that the pace of government spending cuts will accelerate sharply over the next year.
Phil Klein argues that it's important to note spending skyrocketed in 2008, and so Obama was starting from an abnormally high baseline, and so the comparison between change in government spending under Obama and change in government spending under other presidents is flawed. That's absolutely true. But it's applicable to much more than just government spending. The jump in spending in 2008 was the direct and sole consequence of the financial recession.
Charts: What if Obama spent like Reagan? - The Washington Post
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