Alexander Reed Kelly — Three Economic Myths Busted

As a share of national income, federal spending peaked during the Reagan administration; spending has increased only half as fast under President Obama as under President Bush; and declining revenues, not rising spending, accounts for the swelling federal deficit overseen by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Those three points, provided by University of Massachusetts-Amherst economics professor Gerald Friedman, run in direct contradiction to stories heard from conservatives and the economic fear mongers who speak to them from media and Congress. Namely, that Obama is a spendthrift and that spending is the cause of the government’s budget problems.

Truthdig
Three Economic Myths Busted
Alexander Reed Kelly