June 21, 2012
Time and time again I hear Republicans chatter about how horrible President Obama has been for the economy. One of their funniest gaffes is that Obama is a big spending, government-loving liberal.
To put that in perspective: The average annual growth in federal spending under President Obama has been 1.4 percent.
Compare that to George W. Bush's 7.7 percent, Ronald Reagan's 6.8 percent,George H.W. Bush's 5.4 percent and Nixon's 10.4 percent. (These figures come from the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of Management and Budget and Marketwatch.)
Now let's look at federal employees. The federal government Mr. Obama leads has fewer non-military federal employees than it had when Ronald Reagan was president. Don't believe me? You can look it up.
There is a two Santa Clause theory that started just before Mr. Reagan ran for the White House. It stated that stated since the Democrats "give" people things — unemployment benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. — Republicans should "give" big tax cuts and run up the debt with out of control spending.
Then, when a Democrat is in office, Republicans can scream about the debt and force the Democrats to take away entitlements.
Can't you see that game being played now?
Corey Golden, Baltimore
