Published on Truthout (http://www.truth-out.org)
Three Charts to Email to Your Right-Wing Brother-In-Law
by: Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future [3] | Op-Ed
Federal spending dramatically increased under former president, George W. Bush and it has not increased much under President Obama. (Photo: Eric Draper / White House[4])
Problem: Your right-wing brother-in-law is plugged into the FOX-Limbaugh lie machine, and keeps sending you emails about "Obama spending" and "Obama deficits" and how the "Stimulus" just made things worse.
Solution: Here are three "reality-based" charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.
Spending
[5]Government spending increased dramatically under Bush. It has not increased much under Obama. Note that this chart does not reflect any spending cuts resulting from deficit-cutting deals.
Deficits
[6]Notes, this chart includes Clinton's last budget year for comparison.
The numbers in these two charts come from Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2012 [7]. They are just the amounts that the government spent and borrowed, period, Anyone can go look then up. Peoplewho claim that Obama "tripled the deficit" [8] are either misled or are trying to mislead [9].
The Stimulus and Jobs
[10]In this chart, the RED lines on the left side -- the ones that keep doing DOWN -- show what happened to jobs under the policies of Bush and the Republicans. We were losing lots and lots of jobs every month, and it was getting worse and worse. The BLUE lines -- the ones that just go UP -- show what happened to jobs when the stimulus was in effect. We stopped losing jobs and started gaining jobs, and it was getting better and better. The leveling off on the right side of the chart shows what happened as the stimulus started to wind down: job creation leveled off at too low a level.
It looks a lot like the stimulus reversed what was going on before the stimulus.
Conclusion: THE STIMULUS WORKED BUT WAS NOT ENOUGH!
More False Things
These are just three of the false things that everyone "knows." Some others are (click through [11]): Obama bailed out the banks, businesses will hire if they get tax cuts, health care reform cost $1 trillion, Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme or is "going broke" [12], government spending "takes money out of the economy [13]."
Why This Matters
These things really matter. We all want to fix the terrible problems the country has. But it is so important to know just what the problems are before you decide how to fix them. Otherwise the things you do to try to solve those problems might just make them worse. If you get tricked into thinking that Obama has made things worse and that we should go back to what we were doing before Obama -- tax cuts for the rich, giving giant corporations and Wall Street everything they want -- when those are the things that caused the problems in the first place, then we will be in real trouble.
Solution: Here are three "reality-based" charts to send to him. These charts show what actually happened.
Spending
[5]Deficits
[6]The numbers in these two charts come from Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2012 [7]. They are just the amounts that the government spent and borrowed, period, Anyone can go look then up. Peoplewho claim that Obama "tripled the deficit" [8] are either misled or are trying to mislead [9].
The Stimulus and Jobs
[10]It looks a lot like the stimulus reversed what was going on before the stimulus.
Conclusion: THE STIMULUS WORKED BUT WAS NOT ENOUGH!
More False Things
These are just three of the false things that everyone "knows." Some others are (click through [11]): Obama bailed out the banks, businesses will hire if they get tax cuts, health care reform cost $1 trillion, Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme or is "going broke" [12], government spending "takes money out of the economy [13]."
Why This Matters
These things really matter. We all want to fix the terrible problems the country has. But it is so important to know just what the problems are before you decide how to fix them. Otherwise the things you do to try to solve those problems might just make them worse. If you get tricked into thinking that Obama has made things worse and that we should go back to what we were doing before Obama -- tax cuts for the rich, giving giant corporations and Wall Street everything they want -- when those are the things that caused the problems in the first place, then we will be in real trouble.
Links:
[1] http://www.truth-out.org/print/5718
[2] http://www.truth-out.org/printmail/5718
[3] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083428/three-charts-email-your-right-wing-brother-law
[4] http://www.flickr.com/photos/11304375@N07/2744409333/
[5] http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6088811201/
[6] http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6089355018/
[7] http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy12/hist.html
[8] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010020717/huge-2009-budget-deficit-just-one-more-conservative-failure
[9] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083209/ten-years-ago-we-were-paying-nations-debt-then-we-elected-obama
[10] http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6088811219/
[11] http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010104222/false-things-public-knows-they-go-vote
[12] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083426/sen-sanders-plan-actually-fix-social-security
[13] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083212/austeridiocy
[14] http://www.truth-out.org/printmail
[15] http://www.truth-out.org/content/dave-johnson
[16] http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6694/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=2160
[17] https://members.truth-out.org/donate
[1] http://www.truth-out.org/print/5718
[2] http://www.truth-out.org/printmail/5718
[3] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083428/three-charts-email-your-right-wing-brother-law
[4] http://www.flickr.com/photos/11304375@N07/2744409333/
[5] http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6088811201/
[6] http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6089355018/
[7] http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy12/hist.html
[8] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010020717/huge-2009-budget-deficit-just-one-more-conservative-failure
[9] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083209/ten-years-ago-we-were-paying-nations-debt-then-we-elected-obama
[10] http://www.flickr.com/photos/davecjohnson/6088811219/
[11] http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010104222/false-things-public-knows-they-go-vote
[12] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083426/sen-sanders-plan-actually-fix-social-security
[13] http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011083212/austeridiocy
[14] http://www.truth-out.org/printmail
[15] http://www.truth-out.org/content/dave-johnson
[16] http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6694/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=2160
[17] https://members.truth-out.org/donate
12 comments:
It is hilarious that the only positive Obama economic numbers are the ones projected in the future. LOL! Like that will ever happen on his watch! In only 4 years, Obama will have added more debt to this nation than all of the previous presidents COMBINED.
In fact, Obama DID bail out the banks. Both he and his VP Biden voted for the Wall Street bailout while they were U.S Senators. Most Republicans voted against the Wall Street bailout. The Wall Street bailout bill was introduced in Congress by Patrick Kennedy (D-RI).
Obama has never met a bailout he didn't like.
Let's not forget the Obama GM & Chrysler bail outs so he could save the Unions!
i had a job during the bush years. I lost my job last fall under obama and i am sill unemployed. obama has destroyed our economy. we need change.
I am another unemployment casualty who was laId off during the Obama admInistration. If you actually think Obama is doing a good job, talk to someone who is unemployed.
Gimspierre DUCK! You are being attacked by a right wing rapid response blogger brigade (their lying they do have jobs posting partisan jibberrish on websites), discernable from a left wing rapid response blogger brigades by the replacement of the name Obama instead of Bush.
GOP blog trolls are out in force, on this post. If you have something original to say, by all means. But if all you can do is rehash trite antagonisms that aim to fan ignorance and hatred, don't waste your time here.
I'm not sure I agree with the charts, but will do my own due diligence. I remember during the debt ceiling debate CNN has a bunch of charts that don't agree with what this organization is posting.
Never the less, it is interesting, but not sure how accurate or scewed these charts are.
I guess another place to look is the budget office.........More questions than answers here.
So you think I am a troll because I lost my job and I am angry with the president's leadership? I voted for Obama and the first thing he did was spend all that money and drive our economy further into the ground. Like many people, I lost my job AFTER the stimulus. I guess when you are rich like you are, you can afford to dismiss opinions from poor people like me.
The charts clearly show it isn't Obama's fault. Clearly they show it is the fault of the Democrat controlled congress active between 2006 and 2010.
Flatten the tax, get rid of the loopholes and credits, encourage corporations to bring back earnings, stop trading (buying) from countries that practice protectionism. This is not rocket science.
Ah, the revisionists are hard at work posting their "the Democrats were in charge" bullshit. Next thing you know, they'll try to explain that Bush wasn't really the President because he was body-snatched by liberal extraterrestrials.
Republican debt from cutting the top rates and stuffing the pockets of bankers and hedge fund managers combined with an economy that never recovered from the Internet bubble (the first of many bubbles) created by super-wealthy inflating and then dumping investments. I'm waiting for tulips to make a comeback (the original market bubble for the history-challenged).
The Republican philosophy of trickle-down has been disproven TWICE in the last 30 years of trying it with painful results - high unemployment and massive debt.
Give it up already Republican zombies.
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