Federal spending under Obama at historic lows

Thanks to a relentless and successful Republican smear campaign, it’s become an article of faith among my conservative friends, and even some Democrats, that “Obama has presided over a massive increase in federal spending.” This is not true:

But it didn’t happen. Although there was a big stimulus bill under Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower brought the Korean War to an end in the 1950s.

After adjusting for inflation, spending under Obama is falling at a 1.4% annual pace — the first decline in real spending since the early 1970s, when Richard Nixon was retreating from the quagmire in Vietnam.

In per-capita terms, real spending will drop by nearly 5% from $11,450 per person in 2009 to $10,900 in 2013 (measured in 2009 dollars).

Read the full article here for all the facts. It’s clear that Obama has been the most fiscally moderate president we’ve had in 60 years.

Republicans have successfully sold the myth of Obama as a big spender because no one in the establishment media ever challenges them when leading Republicans from Mitt Romney to Mitch McConnell and John Boehner make this false claim. The so-called liberal media just dutifully transcribes what the GOP says, they never seem to get around to telling you it’s a bold faced lie. Yet the truth is plain to see in the chart, it has been Republican presidents who are historically the big spenders. [via]