The Truth Hurts
Posted May 27th, 2008 at 12:47pm in Ongoing Priorities 
Print This Post
A Daily Kos diarist has stumbled upon our Federal Revenue and Spending Book of Charts and approvingly links writing:
Under democratic leadership, spending went down while still installing programs to help those in need. … Republicans on the other hand have actually spent more money not just on defense spending, but also on social programs. … I have no idea why the heritage foundation promotes these graphs, they just prove that conservatives and Republicans are ineffective and just plane [sic] wrong about money.
The diarist does not link to any specific charts, but we think s/he is referring at least in part to this chart showing Kennedy, Johnson, and Clinton as all having the lowest average federal deficit as a percentage of GDP over the last 45 years:
But there are many other charts on the site as well including this one showing that the growth of non-defense spending was lowest under the Reagan administration:
And this one showing that despite the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan, national defense spending as a percentage of GDP is well below the 45-year historical average at 4%:
And this one showing federal spending steadily increasing no matter who controls Congress:
But since this Daily Kos diarist seems to be most concerned with deficits, this chart, showing projected deficits if nothing is done to reform Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid should be the scariest of all:
Author: 
One Response to “The Truth Hurts”
Jonathan, College Station on May 27th, 2008 at 12:47pm said:
It’s unfortunate that spending has increased no matter which party runs congress. If the Republicans would have stayed true to conservative principles, they would still have the majority in Congress and may have increased it further. Where is the conservative leadership?