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Noem Still Wrong: Per Capita Government Spending Decreasing Under Obama

Rep. Kristi Noem's press office chants the same tired and hypocritical slogan about President Obama's failure to address out-of-control spending.

Rep. Noem again speaks of fantasy, not reality. Economist Mark Thoma points out that, under President Obama, the amount of money we spend per person on government has actually decreased:

Government Spending Per Capita, by President, from Nixon to Obama. By Mark Thoma, 2013.02.12

Translation: For the first time in my lifetime, or Kristi's lifetime, the amount each one of us Americans is spending on government is going down. And this is happening under a Democrat President whom some brand a socialist.

Notice the President with the lowest rate of increase in per capita government spending was also a Democrat. Go figure.

16 Comments

  1. owen reitzel 2013.02.13

    How DARE you throw facts at Noem Cory!!!!

  2. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.02.13

    Facts, like me, are annoying things.

  3. Michael Black 2013.02.13

    Our debt and deficits are far greater than ever before. Congress refuses to pass a budget. Your chart means nothing compared to the fiscal disaster when interest rates rise and the interest payments on the national debt become our biggest liability.

  4. Rorschach 2013.02.13

    You have a point, Michael Black. But Kristi Noem is part of the problem, not part of the solution. She has a knack for throwing verbal barbs and regurgitating party talking points. Looks really good doing it. But try to pin her down on her comprehensive plan to address problems. She aint got a comprehensive plan. Her only plan, if you can call it that, is to keep demanding SD's pork and complaining about everyone else's pork. To keep saying "Democrats bad, Republicans good." All Noem has to offer is more of the same BS that got us into this mess in the first place. She has no interest in working with the other side, or seeking compromise. She has very little prospect of ever amounting to anything in Congress. She's a showhorse, as evidenced by the DWC photos of her literal showhorsing in Rapid City. Others in her party have far more potential for accomplishment than does Rep. Noem.

  5. Winston 2013.02.13

    "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

    the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan

  6. Dave 2013.02.13

    11 Things The GOP Doesn't Want You To Know About The Deficit

    1. The Deficit Has Grown Mostly Because Of The Recession
    The deficit has ballooned not because of specific spending measures, but because of the recession. The deficit more than doubled between 2008 and 2009, as the economy was in free fall, since laid-off workers paid less in taxes and needed more benefits. The deficit then shrank in 2010 and 2011.

    2. The Stimulus Cost Much Less Than Bush's Wars, Tax Cuts
    Republicans frequently have blamed the $787 billion stimulus for the national debt, but, when all government spending is taken into account, the stimulus frankly wasn't that big. In contrast, the U.S. will have spent nearly $4 trillion on wars in the Middle East by the time those conflicts end, according to a recent report by Brown University. The Bush tax cuts have cost nearly $1.3 trillion over 10 years.

    3. The Deficit Grew Under George W. Bush
    When George W. Bush took office, the federal government was running a surplus of $86 billion. When he left, that had turned into a $642 billion deficit.

    4. The Deficit Is Shrinking
    Last year's federal budget deficit was 12 percent lower than in 2009, according to the Office of Management and Budget.The deficit is projected to shrink even more over the next several years.

    5. Investors Are Paying Us To Borrow Money
    The interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds is negative, according to the Treasury Department. Investors are even paying us for 30-year Treasury bonds, when adjusted for inflation.

    6. Investors Are Not Running Away
    Conservative commentators have been warning for years that investors will run away from Treasury bonds because of the national debt. So far it's not happening. Interest rates on Treasury bonds continue to hover at historic lows.

    7. Health Care Reform Reduces The Deficit
    Republicans have blasted the Affordable Care Act as "budget-busting." But health care reform actually reduces the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

    8. The U.S. Is Borrowing Less From China
    The U.S. government is borrowing much less from foreign countries than before the recession, according to government data cited by Paul Krugman. That is because the U.S. private sector is financing our bigger deficits.

    9. We Spend A Lot On Defense
    Defense spending constituted 20 percent of federal spending last year, or $718 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This adds up to 41 percent of the world's defense spending, according to Bloomberg TV anchor Adam Johnson. Mitt Romney has vowed to not cut defense spending if elected president.

    10. We Spend A Lot On Health Care
    Health insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid, constituted 21 percent of federal spending last year. In contrast, education constituted 2 percent of federal spending. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have promised not to change Medicare for Americans age 55 and older.

    11. Republicans May Want Large Deficits For Now
    The federal budget deficit ballooned under Ronald Reagan, and that may be just the way Republicans like it. Some Republican thinkers have proposed "starving the beast": that is, cutting taxes in order to use larger deficits to justify spending cuts later. Since Republicans ultimately want lower taxes and a smaller government, what better way is there to cut spending than to make it look urgent and necessary?

    (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/republican-party-deficit_n_1858295.html#slide=1476568)

  7. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.02.13

    Huge, Dave, and good response to Michael's fears.

    On R's point about Noem's useless in seeking solutions: I'm willing to assert that Matt Varilek is doing more concrete good for South Dakota and the economy working again for Senator Johnson as his economic development advisor than Noem is as an actual lawmaker.

  8. Michael Black 2013.02.13

    Did anyone here pass math in high school?

    We have a 16 trillion dollar debt that we will have to pay interest on. Let's assume that interest rates rise so that we are paying a modest 5% to our creditors. That means we will need $800 million just to pay the interest on the national debt. Now some of that debt is held by the federal reserve so who knows what accounting trick they will use for that. It doesn't matter which side of the aisle you sit, we are all to blame for the pickle we are now in. If we would have not cut taxes during the Bush years and exercised some fiscal judgment in our spending, how much better off would we be now?

    The debt is more important than any other issue.

  9. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.02.13

    Too bad Kristi Noem doesn't believe that, Michael, not with her continued pleas for more government spending for her pet projects.

    And there's an argument that the debt isn't as big a problem as you think. Our interest payments were around 1.5% of GDP in 2011. During the good times of the 1990s, our interest payments were 3% of GDP. We need to fix the debt, but we can argue that creating jobs can take priority.

  10. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.02.13

    (By the way, I passed high school math. I've taught other kids to pass high school math.)

  11. grudznick 2013.02.13

    We've seen your french math.

  12. Michael Black 2013.02.13

    The current prime rate is 3.25%. You have to go back to the 1950's to find interest rates as low as they are now. That means for 60+ years, interest rates were higher than they are now.

    You are living in a fantasy world if you think they will continue to stay this low.

    To give a bit of contrast: when I was a senior in high school, the prime rate reached 21.5%. Take that times $16 trillion.

    The sobering part is that our debt continues to grow at a staggering rate. We won't be paying higher interest rates on just $16 trillion, but on $20 to $30 trillion if the trend continues in just a few years.

  13. Michael Black 2013.02.14

    Cory, maybe you could teach politicians high school math.

  14. caheidelberger Post author | 2013.02.14

    Michael, that's among the top ten reasons that I blog.

  15. Justin 2013.02.14

    I agree that the debt is bigger than any issue, Michael. That's why I didn't vote for a Presidential candidate that planned to slash tax rates by 20% and eliminate the capital gains tax. How about you?

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