Austerian vampires

[kpete]

Austerian vampires

by digby

For those who still think the US escaped austerity these past few years, perhaps this will finally clear it up:


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-spending-binge-never-happened-2012-05-22?pagenumber=2

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/austerian-vampires.html

[DJ13]

1. Am I reading the fine print right?

That 1.4% for Obama includes the 2009 stimulus spending?

Its no wonder our economy is wheezing along unable to improve.

[MannyGoldstein]

2. And more big cuts coming Jan 1

Agreed to during last summer's fully-fake debt ceiling crisis.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[guardian]

4. Recent U.S. Federal spending cannot be characterized as austerity

At least when compared to countries like UK or Greece. Below is the annual growth rates per the CBO: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/21999

Year -- Fed Spending -- % growth
2000 -- 1789.0 -- 5.1%
2001 -- 1862.8 -- 4.1%
2002 -- 2010.9 -- 8.0%
2003 -- 2159.9 -- 7.4%
2004 -- 2292.8 -- 6.2%
2005 -- 2472.0 -- 7.8%
2006 -- 2655.1 -- 7.4%
2007 -- 2728.7 -- 2.8%
2008 -- 2982.5 -- 9.3%
2009 -- 3517.7 -- 17.9%
2010 -- 3455.8 -- -1.8%
2011 -- 3598.1 -- 4.1%