Posted on 10/09/2005 7:59:30 AM PDT by alessandrofiaschi
While the data show that all presidents presided over net increases in spending, George W. Bush is shown to be one of the biggest spenders of them all, even outpacing Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.
An excerpt from the report: "The increase in discretionary spending - that is, all nonentitlement programs - in Bush's first term was 48.5 percent in nominal terms. That's more than twice as large as the increase in discretionary spending during Clinton's entire two terms (21.6 percent), and just higher than Lyndon Johnson's entire discretionary spending spree (48.3 percent)."
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Uh, homeland security and defense are not unecessary items, IMO, as the eggheads at Cato think.
What the heck. We all know what a terrific success the "Great Society" was.
Still don't understand how my republican party wound up with an LBJ/FDR clone at the top. We better find the real thing for 08 or alot of fiscal conservatives are just staying home.
Just goes to show that Bush is as addicted to alcohol as he is to spending. Someone should tell Laura to get Bush into Over Spenders Anonymous.
Just wait until his massive medicare drug give away kicks in!
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Yeah, along with the increasing number of ILLEGAL MEXICANS with their noses in the government pig trough...
Oh my God! you're right!
This president will set a career mark that will NEVER be broken!
What a legacy!
I can't get that d@#M $500,000 dollar fish painting out of my mind. We need new options. We need to be able to hold these idiots accountable.
/bushbot
Cato is Libertarian. Some of those guys are so dogmatic they think national defense should be privatised.
Cato Institute along with many other conservative think-tanks, simply certify the truth: Bush is not a fiscal conservative. Useless to say taht the last conservative for President was Ronald Reagan, a Goldwater Republican.
Cato isn't that OJ's Pimp?
The numbers for Bush are far, far worse. What is not taken into account is global welfare. I believe that this is not included in the categories mentioned. Also, cancelation of foreign debt is not being taken into account. Bush has canceled more foreign debt than LBJ could even dream about.
By far, Bush is the biggest global welfare Santa ever, and this Cato report does not even take that into account.
Republicans at one time = conservatives. This is why so many Republican faithful are stunned to the point of denial that the Republican leadership has gone so left that they are MORE LEFT THAN LEFTIST RADICALS like LBJ and Ted Kennedy.
FACT: Manslaughter Kennedy dicated how much to spend for Education in the first Bush Budget. Bush took Kennedy's figure and piled even more billions onto the final figure, even though Bush knew that the Department of Education was a corrupt, broken and dysfunctional department, and even though Bush knew his beloved school vouchers would be shot down in flames.
George Bush is no conservative. Every day, new facts bear that out. It is a bitter pill to swallow, and many loylaists here refuse to accept that reality.
Cato was dealing in facts and statistics.
You are dealing in denial.
I agree! Thanks for this post!
Dogmatic with a capitol "D". Ever try to argue a point with one? They've got a set book answer for everything. Don't worry, I like 'em anyway and they do valuable work.
I wonder what the non-discretionary spending numbers look like for Bush?
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