The BA team breezed through the big 8-28 rallies in Washington, DC to test the government spending IQ of participants. We gave them five spending facts and asked whether they were implemented by Bush or Obama. The answers may surprise you.
1
Bush or Obama? This president spent a record-breaking $3 trillion in a single year.
Answer: Both. In 2008, Bush was the first president to spend $3 trillion in a single year. According to
White House estimates, Obama will spend $3.6 trillion in 2010 and $3.8 trillion in 2011.
Bush or Obama? This president bailed out hundreds of large banks and corporations.
Answer: Both. Obama carried out Bush’s unpopular $700 billion bailout for failing corporations.
Together, the presidents have bailed out over 600 businesses since Spring 2008.
Bush or Obama? This president spent billions of taxpayer dollars on “stimulus” spending
during a recession.
Answer: Both. In 2008, Bush spent over $100 billion on rebates to stimulate consumer spending -
his second attempt at using spending as stimulus. In 2009, Obama enacted a $814 billion
stimulus package.
Bush or Obama? This President increased spending by many times the rate of inflation across
most non-defense categories – such as education, Medicare, Medicaid, income security and
regional development.
Answer: Both. Contrary to popular belief, defense and homeland security spending only made up
about 40 percent of Bush’s new spending. He increased spending across most non-defense categories
by four to six times the rate of inflation. In Obama’s first half year in office, many of these budgets rose
another 70 percent.
Bush or Obama? This president passed an expensive healthcare bill.
Answer: Both. In 2003, George Bush signed into law Medicare Part D, which cost hundreds of billions
of dollars. As you probably know, President Obama also enacted an expensive healthcare package
earlier this year (though cost estimates vary considerably).
In today’s RealClearPolitics, John Stossel looks at why the economy isn’t recovering.
“Corporate profits are soaring. Companies are sitting on billions of dollars of cash. And still, they’ve yet to amp up hiring or make major investments.”
So writes The Washington Post about the recession’s stubborn refusal to go away. The statisticians at the National Bureau of Economic Research declared the Great Recession over — but tell that to people who can’t find jobs. Today, businesses replace equipment and inventory, but they are reluctant to hire new workers. Investment that does occur aims at replacing the use of labor by adopting advanced technology. In a growing economy, that’s a sign of progress. Freed-up workers are then available for new projects. But lately, those new projects aren’t being launched.
Why isn’t the economy recovering? After previous recessions, unemployment didn’t get stuck at close to 10 percent. If left alone, the economy can and does heal itself, as the mistakes of the previous inflationary boom are corrected.
The problem today is that the economy is not being left alone. Instead, it is haunted by uncertainty on a hundred fronts. When rules are unintelligible and unpredictable, when new workers are potential threats because of Labor Department regulations, businesses have little confidence to hire.
In at least three big areas — health insurance, financial regulation and taxes — no one can know what will happen.
[Economist and historian Robert] Higgs says: “Unless the government acts soon to resolve the looming uncertainties about the half-dozen greatest threats of policy harm to business, investors will remain for the most part on the sideline … consuming wealth that might otherwise have been invested.”
How do we tell Washington how we feel? We show them. We sifted through the top public opinion polls, compiled the results most representative of the nation, prettied them up, and set them to compelling music. We’re trying to get as many people as possible to send the video to Congress. Lawmakers must be shown what the nation thinks of them and their many years of policies that are bankrupting America. Watch the video now send it to your congressman.
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Just so you don’t think we’re cherry picking polls, here are the polls featured in the video and many more showing similar public opinion:
“6 out of 10 Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction – Reuters, July 2010”
FACTS:
According to a July Reuters Reuters poll 60% of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The RealClearPolitics average for recent polls (as of August 20) has 61.2% saying the country is headed in the wrong direction.
According to a Pollster.Com average (as of August 20), 57.9% of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction.
“43% have a favorable view of the Democratic Party. 36% for the Republican Party. – Gallup, May 2010”
FACTS:
According to a Gallup survey in May, 36% of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party, down from 42% in March. 43% have a favorable view of the Democrats, up from 41% in March.
According to a June survey by NBC and The Wall Street Journal only 30% of Americans have a positive view of the Republican party. 42% have a negative view.
According to a July survey by Zogby, 37% of likely voters approve of the job Democrats in Congress are doing. Only 25% approve of the job Republicans are doing.
“Congress’s approval rating has been under 29% consistently for since 2005. — Gallup, 2005-2010”
FACTS:
Of the 60 polls taken by Gallup on Congressional approval since 2005, only 11 have Congressional approval above 29%.
“The same as OJ Simpson’s approval rating a year after his trial. – Gallup, 1995”
FACTS:
The Washington Post: “Three in 10 — 29 percent — of all Americans had a favorable view of Simpson in an October, 1995 Gallup poll.”
“Congress’s approval rating today…19% — Gallup, Aug 2010”
FACTS:
According to a Gallup poll taken August 5-8, only 19% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing.
According to a Pollster.Com average (as of August 20), 17.1% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing.
The current RealClearPolitics congressional approval average (as of August 20) is just slightly higher at 20.8%.
The most recent Economist poll (August 14-17) has Congressional approval at 11.4%.
“Nearly half of likely voters think a random selection of people from the phone book would do better than Congress. – Rasmussen, January 2010”
FACTS:
A January 2010 Rasmussen poll found 45% of Americans think random collection of people would do a better job addressing the nation’s problems than Congress.
That question was up 12 points from a survey taken by Rasmussen just 15 months earlier.
“86% of Americans say the system of government is broken. – CNN/Opinion Research Corp, February 2010”
FACTS:
According to a February CNN survey, 86% of Americans believe our system of government is broken.
According to a Fox News poll, 63% of registered voters believe the government is so big that it is hurting the country.
In July, the Economist also asked about voters’ trust in government. Only 11.6% of all registered voters trust government to do what is right “all” or “most” of the time. 80.6% of registered voters said the trust government only “some” of the time or never.
Americans are increasingly “angry” at government. According to a poll of adults by ABC News and The Washington Post in June only 2% are enthusiastic about the way government works; 28% are satisfied; 45% are dissatisfied; and 25% are angry.
“The two most important issues to Americans are: jobs [and] the budget deficit — Pew and the National Journal, July 2010”
FACTS:
In July, Pew and The National Journal asked voters how important certain issues are for Congress to tackle. 70% of adults said it was “very” important to tackle the budget deficit – the only issue that received a higher number was the jobs situation (80%).
Pew and The National Journal saw a dramatic shift over the last five months in the number of Americans that would make cutting the budget deficit a higher priority than spending more to stimulate the economy. In February, 47% said they would make cutting the deficit a priority — the same number said they would make spending more to stimulate the economy a priority. In a poll taken in mid-July 51% would give the budget deficit priority while only 40% would make stimulative spending priority.
In July Bloomberg asked adults what is the most important issue facing the country right now. 41% said unemployment/jobs; the deficit and government spending was second with 26%.
“Unemployment has nearly doubled since the end of 2007. — Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2010”
FACTS:
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment has increased from 5% in December 2007 to 9.5% in July 2010.
“53% think we’d be better off without the stimulus. — Time, July 2010”
FACTS:
According to Time, 53% of adults think the U.S. would be better off if the federal government had not spent the money. Only 38% said the country is better off with the stimulus.
Most Americans don’t believe the stimulus has helped the economy. In July, the Economist found only 28.9% of registered voters believed the stimulus had helped the economy; 51.9% of registered voters said it had not.
According to a July Fox News poll, 43% of registered voters believe the economy would be the same if the stimulus had not been passed.
According to a July poll by Rasmussen, 43% of likely voters believe the stimulus hurt the economy; 29% say it helped.
“67% oppose a new stimulus. — Time, July 2010”
FACTS:
Also according to Time, two-thirds of voters oppose a new stimulus.
“66% believe government wastes “a lot” of our tax dollars. — Center for American Progress, August 2010”
FACTS:
According to a July poll of adults by the Center for American Progress, 66% of Americans believe the federal government wastes “a lot” of what Americans pay in taxes.
“A majority believes we should [cut spending to stimulate the economy]. — Democracy Corps, June 2010
FACTS:
In June, Democracy Corps asked likely voters about the policies they thought would best stimulate the economy and create jobs. 50% agreed the best way to get the economy moving again and create jobs was to “cut” government spending and taxes.
According to Pew Research and The National Journal34% of Americans believe cutting the budget deficit would help the U.S. jobs situation “a lot”; 39% said it would help “a little.”
On Friday, the BLS released its regional and state unemployment rates for July. The situation remained bleak, with 14 states reporting increases in unemployment rates and 18 states reporting no change to unemployment rates.
Other indicators were also disappointing. Home foreclosure rates rose 4% in July, per RealtyTrac.com. July marked the 17th successive month in which 300,000 or more home fell into foreclosure. Also, for fiscal year 2011, the combined budget shortfalls for all states is excepted to reach $121.1 billion, per the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Click here to see Bankrupting America’s recently updated “economic cheat sheet of all 50 states” to see how your state fares in comparison to others.
Speaker of the House: $223,500/52 = $4,299
House and Senate Majority and Minority Leaders: ($193,400/52) x 4 = $14,877
Other Representatives and Senators: ($174,000/52) x 530 = $1,773,462
Allowance for staff salaries and misc: ($1,500,000/52) x 535 = $15,432,692
Non-salary money allocated for Congress: $4.656 billion/52 = $89,538,462
What you got
Members of the House and Senate were home for their nearly six week “August Recess.” But don’t worry (or do worry?), they’ll be back September 13.
Many lawmakers are documenting their summer travel on their Facebook pages. See if you can find your member and then head on over to our Facebook page to tell us what they’re doing and whether you’re getting your money’s worth this August.
This week is “Fiscal Cheat Sheet” week at Bankrupting America. Each day, we’ll release a fact sheet that breaks down a core theme surrounding the urgent, but long-standing, problem of government overspending.
In today’sConsequences (national), we highlight howAmericans are becoming increasingly aware that Washington’s fiscal recklessness has consequences, and these consequences are growing exponentially worse with every day policymakers fail to get our nation’s fiscal house in order. A sneak peek:
Higher Taxes, Higher Cost of Living
Dampened Economic Growth, Fewer Job Opportunities
Less Flexibility
Crushing Burden on Future Generations
Click here for the Consequences (national) cheat sheet.
And looking forward to next week…
MONDAY
Consequences (state): National consequences paint just part of the picture of government overspending; state-level consequences are just as devastating – and often more personal. On Friday, we’ll receive yet another likely disappointing unemployment report. Bankrupting America will take a look at the report and the policies that have been the backdrop for the bleak jobs situation.
“In Austin, Texas, President Obama told an audience, ‘If you want to go forward you put your car in ‘D.’ If you want to go backward, you put your car in ‘R.” But you know something? Either way, the economy is still F’d.” – Jay Leno
This week is “Fiscal Cheat Sheet” week at Bankrupting America. Each day, we’ll release a fact sheet that breaks down a core theme surrounding the urgent, but long-standing, problem of government overspending.
Yesterday, we looked at key issues of Washington’s long-standing culture of Unsustainable Spending.
Intoday’sUncertainty & Lack of Confidence,we’ll discuss howAmericans’ fear of what Washington will do next is further impeding an economic recovery:
No Ability for Businesses to Plan
Families and Companies Afraid to Act
Click here for the Uncertainty & Lack of Confidence cheat sheet.
Looking ahead…
FRIDAY
Consequences (national): Americans are becoming increasingly aware that Washington’s fiscal recklessness has consequences, and these consequences are growing exponentially worse with every day policymakers fail to get our nation’s fiscal house in order:
Higher Taxes, Higher Cost of Living
Dampened Economic Growth, Fewer Job Opportunities
Less Flexibility
Crushing Burden on Future Generations
And looking forward to next week…
MONDAY
Consequences (state): National consequences paint just part of the picture of government overspending; state-level consequences are just as devastating – and often more personal. On Friday, we’ll receive yet another likely disappointing unemployment report. Bankrupting America will take a look at the report and the policies that have been the backdrop for the bleak jobs situation.
Democracy Corps recently conducted a poll in which they asked the relative importance of cutting the budget deficit to economic growth: 51% of likely voters said reducing the budget deficit is so important to the nation’s future that we should consider “bold” spending cuts; 42% would focus on new spending to develop new skills and industries.
According to a Fox News poll, 63% of registered voters believe the government is so big that it is hurting the country. 32% (25% of Independents) said the size of the federal government was not hurting the country.
According to a poll by the Pew Research Center, 69% of registered voters say the budget deficit is “very” important to their vote this year. That’s behind the economy (90%), jobs (88%), health care (78%) and terrorism (71%) in terms of intensity.
