Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war By: Mark Tapscott Editorial Page Editor 08/23/10 11:32 AM EDT
Expect to hear a lot about how much the Iraq war cost in the days ahead from Democrats worried about voter wrath against their unprecedented spending excesses.
The meme is simple: The economy is in a shambles because of Bush's economic policies and his war in Iraq. As American Thinker's Randall Hoven points out, that's the message being peddled by lefties as diverse as former Clinton political strategist James Carville, economist Joseph Stiglitz, and The Nation's Washington editor, Christopher Hayes.
The key point in the mantra is an alleged $3 trillion cost for the war. Well, it was expensive to be sure, in both blood and treasure, but, as Hoven notes, the CBO puts the total cost at $709 billion. To put that figure in the proper context of overall spending since the war began in 2003, Hoven provides this handy CBO chart showing the portion of the annual deficit attributable to the conflict:
But there is much more to be said of this data and Hoven does an admirable job of summarizing the highlights of such an analysis:
* Obama's stimulus, passed in his first month in office, will cost more than the entire Iraq War -- more than $100 billion (15%) more.
* Just the first two years of Obama's stimulus cost more than the entire cost of the Iraq War under President Bush, or six years of that war.
* Iraq War spending accounted for just 3.2% of all federal spending while it lasted.
* Iraq War spending was not even one quarter of what we spent on Medicare in the same time frame.
* Iraq War spending was not even 15% of the total deficit spending in that time frame. The cumulative deficit, 2003-2010, would have been four-point-something trillion dollars with or without the Iraq War.
* The Iraq War accounts for less than 8% of the federal debt held by the public at the end of 2010 ($9.031 trillion).
* During Bush's Iraq years, 2003-2008, the federal government spent more on education that it did on the Iraq War. (State and local governments spent about ten times more.)
Just some handy facts to recall during coming weeks as Obama and his congressional Democratic buddies get more desperate to put the blame for their spending policies on Bush and the war in Iraq.
Bennet Bombshell: Trillions in Debt, ‘Nothing to Show for It’ August 25, 2010 5:15 A.M. By Michael Sandoval
Sen. Michael Bennet’s recent appearance in Greeley, Colorado is sure to set political tongues wagging–Bennet is quoted as saying that though trillions of dollars of Federal debt has been incurred through spending since he was appointed to the Senate in January of 2009, “we have nothing to show for it”:
Michael Bennet, D-Colo,at a town hall meeting in Greeley last Saturday, Aug 21 said we had nothing to show for the debt incurred by the stimulus package and other expenditures calling the recession the worst since the Great Depression. [...]
Regarding spending during his time in office he said, “We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet” and, “in my view we have nothing to show for it.” Speaking of the debt, he said our debt almost equals the economy. Regarding the current job situation, Bennet said the situation has been dire for over a decade saying, “We have created no net new jobs in the United States since 1998” which were the last two years of the Clinton administration. Pointing to a slide showing budget expenditures, he said that currently 65 percent of the budget was for social security, Medicaid and Medicare expenditures and that we could not grow our way out of debt.
Regarding the expiration of the Bush tax cuts Bennet would not commit to a position on whether to extend them simply saying, “I hope we look at it comprehensively.”
When asked about a recent report showing that government employees make more than their private sector counterparts said, “This is a time when we need to restrain wages in the public sector.” He said we need to make sure “our wages are not growing faster than inflation or faster than our growth.” Bennet also received a question about whether he would support card check and declined to give a firm answer saying, “I have not been a sponsor of the employee free choice act and the bill as written will not come to the floor to a vote.” He also said, “I believe strongly in the right of workers to collectively bargain and organize free from intimidation.”
Obama is putting us more in debt each day that passes and will for the next 10 years and granted Bush put us into debt to the tune of 1 trillion dollars but that's a small amount compared to what this administration is doing to the country and still doesn't have a clue about what to do.
don't worry boxy....obama will strip our military down so it will barely be able to protect US! Don't believe me??? Ask some people in the military. All the ones that I've talked to felt better under bush! They are NOT confident with obama at all!!
Obama is putting us more in debt each day that passes and will for the next 10 years and granted Bush put us into debt to the tune of 1 trillion dollars but that's a small amount compared to what this administration is doing to the country and still doesn't have a clue about what to do.
Shadow... Bush put us $1trillion in debt... STARTING WITH A GROWING ECONOMY!
If Obama manages to add only $1 trillion more and gets the economy back to where we were when Bush took office, he will be a success!
don't worry boxy....obama will strip our military down so it will barely be able to protect US! Don't believe me??? Ask some people in the military. All the ones that I've talked to felt better under bush! They are NOT confident with obama at all!!
Bumble... Campaign donations among enlisted men, from the military overseas was $4 to $1 for Obama before the election.
I have a nephew who is a Marine in Afghanistan and a fellow Marine that I served with, who is now in Afghanistan as a contractor. Both blame GWB for the disaster there. The Marines think that Obama has no good choices in this war, and very little of anything like a 'victory' within 5 more years.
Obama has already put us into 2.3 trillion dollars already and who knows how much further into debt we'll be as time goes on. Let us not forget that it was Frannie and Freddie that started the financial meltdown with the failed loans that the banks were forced to write compliments of Frank and Dodd not allowing Congress to put restraints on them.
Obama has done NOTHING except talk through a teleprompter and spend our money recklessly.....just like bush did! I think we can agree that they were both clearly unqualified for the job.
I voted for bush....twice. But at least I can say that bush was clearly not the fiscal conservative I thought he would be and has played a role in our current situation. Just like Barney Frank and Reid has!!!
Obama has done NOTHING but 'blame bush' for EVERYTHING. Well that line is getting old after almost 2 years. Even the dems are distancing themselves from obama, just like the reps did with bush....and you don't see the correlation here?
THEY BOTH SUCKED!!! We need to look forward for something better....don't you agree????
bumblethru: The teleprompter "issue" that you keep bringing up, is painting you to be even more moronic than your misspelled avatar makes you out to be. Every politician for the last 200 years or so, has used crib notes while delivering their more important speeches.
It makes for a more fluid, more comprehendable delivery. Even Lincoln read off notes during The Gettysburg Address, because unlike Sarah Palin, he felt the need to make sense.
This is one argument from the "tea party" and the GOP that I have to say I agree with. Mortgaging our grandchildrens' future to supposedly stimulate the economy is wreckless. So far, it is hard to prove that it has actually stimulated anything -- except for the profits of the financial firms which sell government bonds. Furthermore, we don't know that the stimulus saved us from a deeper recession -- because it is impossible to prove a "what if" or in this case "what if not". Personally, i believe that the recession would NOT have been worse without the stimulus .. since we actually saw some economic indicators improving BEFORE a single dollar of the $700+ billion spent. I think that the unemployment issue is tied more to the uncertainty that businesses felt over the global currency crisis, uncertainty/displeasure with the "health care plan", and with uncertainty/displeasure over the end of the "Bush tax cuts" and threats of even higher, new taxes from this administration.
If they cut spending and taxes and set an example for all Americans who were also tightening their belts, and we all took the medicine of a short cyclical recession, we would be out of the woods by now and things would be turning around and Mr. Hussein Obama would be getting the credit...But NOOOOOOOOOO, Hussein wanted to make the government bigger, badder and more powerful than ever in American History (all the while helping his friends, the big government unions and Goldman Sachs!) So now we have debt beyond what even Bush accumulated which is disgusting to most Americans. We may never dig out of this pit. Now we are on the precipice of a depression from these socialists bankrupting us.
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