February 13, 2016
More 'legacy lies' from outgoing Obama on economy
By Jack Hellner
Here is what President Obama said on the Ellen show on Abe Lincoln's birthday:
Since I came into office, we reduced the deficit by two-thirds, but if you ask the average person, they're sure that spending has shot up. And the reason is because there are a bunch of folks who say that we're wildly overspending, even though we aren't.
Here are some actual numbers: in FY 2007, the last year President Bush and Republicans had 100% control of Congress, federal spending including both wars was $2.7 trillion. The budget President Obama just submitted is $4.1 trillion. That is up over 50% despite record-low interest rates and his continually bragging that he has ended the wars. Median family income around the country is actually down or flat, so I do not understand how the president could pretend that they aren't overspending and taxing.
The deficit was down to $161 billion in FY 2007, including the spending on the wars and because of President Bush's across-the-board tax cuts in the summer of 2003. In FY 2003, federal income tax receipts had decreased to around $900 billion prior to the tax cuts, due to a recession and a collapsed stock market. By FY 2007, due to the stimulus of the tax cuts, the economy rebounded, economic growth was substantial, unemployment was way down (not because of a lower labor participation rate), and income tax receipts had climbed to over $1.5 trillion. The tax rate cuts did not cause receipts to go down, as Democrats and CBO had projected; they actually skyrocketed by over 60%. The tax cuts obviously did not cause the deficit.
The projected deficit for FY 2016 is projected to be over $500 billion. Think how high it would be if the Federal Reserve weren't keeping the interest rates artificially low.
Despite the record-low interest rates and massive increases in federal spending, economic growth has been some of the slowest on record after a recession. Keynesian economics is obviously not that stimulating.
The president also continually says that his policies brought us out of the great recession. The recession actually ended by June 2009, four months and ten days after he took office. This is obviously before any of his policies could have had any effect.
On February 10, in Springfield, Illinois, he gave a speech where he said his opponents are not entitled to their own facts. It would be nice if he paid attention to that lecture, and it would be great if the media would call him out on his many false statements.
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