Bloviated Spending

Representative Barney Frank graced us with this response to a Republican on NBC's Meet The Press recently: "On the bloated spending, this comes from a man whose party controlled the federal government - House, Senate and White House - for six years. The spending that we have now was set by six years of Republican spending."

Well yes, like an acorn sets the growth of the oak tree. However, although connected at some base genetic level, both the kind and quantity of growth between the two are wildly disparate.

Through 2007, Bush's deficits never exceeded $415 billion in any given year, and averaged less than $280 billion (USA Today). Such profligacy is not admirable. But remember, the Democrats controlled the Congress (and the budget) for the full fiscal year of 2008, and through 2012 it has been projected that the highest single year deficit will be more than $1.1 trillion (a 287% increase), and budget shortfalls will average more than $621 billion (a 222% increase) (Congressional Budget Office).

These estimates of course are already being revised upwards, as Obama and the Democrats seem incapable of addressing any old or new problem in fiscal units of less than $1 trillion. I don't think Bush's deficits are a place Representative Frank wants to go. With such a clear demarcation between Republican and Democrat control of the machinery of government, highlighting past deficits only serves to show that in the spending game, Republicans are fiscal pikers compared to the shamelessly audacious spending of Democrats.