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Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33
My friend, you are much better than this. Should I link to the cross-over dribble on YouTube for you.
I'm by no means on the same road as Drudge. Nor am I unaware of the graph you linked to. We both know the President has limited control over the economy, but a President with his party controlling both houses of Congress can do much good....or harm. Many believe the expansion of the social programs FDR put forth in the 30s caused the depression to last longer. The expansion of these programs is draining the federal budget now. The expansion of government oversight / social programs in the mid-60s, many believe caused the economic issues in the 70s, and Carter certainly didn't help. It appears we are repeating past mistakes. I don't care who takes the credit, I'll happily give it to Obama if he does the things needed to get our federal budget balanced and our deficit reduced, but his current plan is not a blueprint for success.
EDIT: and for the record, Bush did a crappy job with the budget. He was definitely no fiscal conservative.
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I can't quantify "many believe" into facts and figures. I am afraid you'll have to do better than "many believe," specially if that many include Buster, firstdown, and the usual cohorts.
When you say expansion what do you mean? We're not a static nation,
our population has increased 400% since 1900 and 225% since 1940. The fact that national debt relative to the GDP was heading south aught to tell you we were heading in the right direction. The only time we seem to have issues is when we go to war and put all that money on the credit card.
Government spending during an economic downturn is a good thing but only if the money is spent wisely. Sure, there's plenty of government mismanagement that goes on but to use this to justify cutting back government spending and programs right now absurd. I want us to reign in the fraud/waste/abuses unlike many I can't subscribe to "look -- right there, it's bad, get rid of it" philosophy. You have to have a good alternative and I'm not convinced a spending freeze would be a good thing right now. That goes for a tax increase before the economy recovers too.