Smasharoo wrote:
Anyway, could you do me a favor and link to a chart of spending relative to GDP for the last 20 years (or whatever you think is an appropriate time frame) so I can see this "trend line" and the massive spending we've undertaken. Or, well, *anything* that indicates government spending has grown at a particularly high rate recently relative to, well, *anything*.
Um... Sure. I'll do you one better. I'll include revenue, spending, deficit, and debt, all as a percentage of GDP, courtesy of CBO historical budget data. And I'll give you 40 years instead of 20:
Year Revenue Outlays Deficit Debt
1971 17.3 19.5 -2.1 28.1
1972 17.6 19.6 -2.0 27.4
1973 17.6 18.7 -1.1 26.0
1974 18.3 18.7 -0.4 23.9
1975 17.9 21.3 -3.4 25.3
1976 17.1 21.4 -4.2 27.5
1977 18.0 20.7 -2.7 27.8
1978 18.0 20.7 -2.7 27.4
1979 18.5 20.2 -1.6 25.6
1980 19.0 21.7 -2.7 26.1
1981 19.6 22.2 -2.6 25.8
1982 19.2 23.1 -4.0 28.7
1983 17.5 23.5 -6.0 33.1
1984 17.3 22.2 -4.8 34.0
1985 17.7 22.8 -5.1 36.4
1986 17.5 22.5 -5.0 39.5
1987 18.4 21.6 -3.2 40.6
1988 18.2 21.3 -3.1 41.0
1989 18.4 21.2 -2.8 40.6
1990 18.0 21.9 -3.9 42.1
1991 17.8 22.3 -4.5 45.3
1992 17.5 22.1 -4.7 48.1
1993 17.5 21.4 -3.9 49.3
1994 18.0 21.0 -2.9 49.2
1995 18.4 20.6 -2.2 49.1
1996 18.8 20.2 -1.4 48.4
1997 19.2 19.5 -0.3 45.9
1998 19.9 19.1 0.8 43.0
1999 19.8 18.5 1.4 39.4
2000 20.6 18.2 2.4 34.7
2001 19.5 18.2 1.3 32.5
2002 17.6 19.1 -1.5 33.6
2003 16.2 19.7 -3.4 35.6
2004 16.1 19.6 -3.5 36.8
2005 17.3 19.9 -2.6 36.9
2006 18.2 20.1 -1.9 36.5
2007 18.5 19.6 -1.2 36.2
2008 17.5 20.7 -3.2 40.3
2009 14.9 25.0 -10.0 53.5
2010 14.9 23.8 -8.9 62.1
You don't see a pattern shift in the last couple years?
Quote:
If you really want to do this, (which I imagine isn't the case, it's far easier to continue the "you think it's too complicated because YOU don't understand it" responses, I'm sure) let's start with some sort of framework. Some sort of data, then you can explain to me what you think it means, and I can agree or not.
Sure! How about the fact that for the first 38 of those 40 years not one year had outlays greater than 23.5% of GDP. A level that has been exceeded for both of the years Obama has been in office (and is projected to be exceeded this year as well).
How about the fact that for the first 38 of those 40 years not one year had a deficit greater than 6% (that same year, 1983). A level which has also been exceeded for both of the years Obama has been in office.
How about the fact that for the previous 38 of those 40 years, the highest debt% was 49.3%? A level that has been exceeded for both of the years Obama has been in office.
I'll even give you one fact that hurts my argument (but only a little bit): The same can be said about revenue. The lowest revenue for the first 38 of those 40 years was 16.1. Both Obama's years so far had lower revenue. But as I've already mentioned, those revenues weren't the result of a reduction in tax rates. They're the result of a falling economy. We knew that revenues would be down. The Democrats knew that revenues would be down. They choose to embark on massive spending anyway.
Can we agree now that I've proven that spending increased significantly during this time period? Yes?
Quote:
"Everyone knows government spending is out of control" isn't going to be sufficient, I'm afraid, if you want to continue.
That's funny given that the counter argument from the left comes in that form "Everyone knows that our current economy is because of the Bush tax cuts and two unfunded wars". You've heard that a few times in the last couple weeks, right? Probably more than a few times. I think that statement gets repeated on MSNBC at least 4 times an hour.
What I'm doing is the opposite. I'm showing actual facts and data which show that the Democrats spent to damn much money at a time when revenues were down. That's why we have historically high deficits, and why our debt is skyrocketing. Our current debt crisis is because of that spending.
You're free to argue that we had to spend that money for some economic reason or other, but can you at least acknowledge that the problem with the debt right now is because of that same spending? I've more than proven this. As I've said all along, the numbers do not lie.
Care to actually look at the data instead of parroting far left rhetoric? You might just learn something.
Edited, Jul 14th 2011 12:14pm by gbaji