2010-06-21 04:20:00
Which President Has Presided Over The Largest Spending Increases Since 1961?
|
A number of people emailed after I posted “Some US Government Spending Statistics From 1960 to 2010” yesterday, asking if I could break down the numbers by president.
In 1961, the United States government spent a total of $97,723,000,000 (this works out to about $708,492,000,000 in inflation adjusted dollars).
In 2010, the United States government is expected to shell out somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.7 trillion.
How did spending grow so much in the past 50 years? Which presidents oversaw the largest increases in spending while they were in office? Which presidents oversaw the smallest increases in spending?
Let’s break it down:
Kennedy/Johnson (1961-1964)
Spending Grew by 6.5% YoY (Year over Year)
Spending Grew by 5.28% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Lyndon B. Johnson (1965-1968)
Spending Grew by 10.93% YoY
Spending Grew by 7.74% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Richard Nixon (1969-1972)
Spending Grew by 6.7% YoY
Spending Grew by 1.97% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Nixon/Ford (1973-1976)
Spending Grew by 12.85% YoY
Spending Grew by 4.44% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Jimmy Carter (1977-1980)
Spending Grew by 12.32% YoY
Spending Grew by 2.37% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Ronald Reagan, First Term (1981-1984)
Spending Grew by 9.62% YoY
Spending Grew by 3.46% YoY (Inflation Adjusted
Ronald Reagan, Second Term (1985-1988)
Spending Grew by 5.79% YoY
Spending Grew by 2.33% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
George H. W. Bush (1989-1992)
Spending Grew by 6.75% YoY
Spending Grew by 2.24% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Bill Clinton, First Term (1993-1996)
Spending Grew by 3.1% YoY
Spending Grew by 0.31% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Bill Clinton, Second Term (1997-2000)
Spending Grew by 3.48% YoY
Spending Grew by 1.15% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
George W. Bush, First Term (2001-2004)
Spending Grew by 6.41% YoY
Spending Grew by 4.02% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
George W. Bush, Second Term (2005-2008)
Spending Grew by 6.82% YoY
Spending Grew by 3.4% YoY (Inflation Adjusted)
Barack Obama (2009-2012)
Spending Expected to Grow by 6.71% YoY (according to White House projections)
*inflation numbers not available
--
So, the three highest average Year over Year increases for a single presidential term belonged to:
Nixon/Ford, +12.85%
Jimmy Carter, +12.32%
Lyndon B. Johnson, +10.93%
The three highest Year over Year increases (for a single presidential term) AFTER accounting for inflation:
Lyndon B. Johnson, +7.74%
Kennedy/Johnson, +5.28%
Nixon/Ford, +4.44%
The three lowest average Year over Year increases (for a single presidential term):
Bill Clinton’s First Term, +3.1%
Bill Clinton’s Second Term, +3.48%
Ronald Reagan’s Second Term, +5.79%
The three lowest average Year over Year increases after adjusting for inflation (for a single presidential term):
Bill Clinton’s First Term, +0.31%
Bill Clinton’s Second Term, +1.15%
Richard Nixon’s First Term, +1.97%
--
The president who oversaw the smallest increases in government spending? Bill Clinton, and it’s not even close.
The president who oversaw the largest increases in government spending? After adjusting for inflation, Lyndon B. Johnson.
Source: Davemanuel.com - Some US Government Spending Statistics From 1960 to 2010
Source: Office of Management and Budget - Historical Tables
Filed under: General Knowledge
7 COMMENTS - What Say You?
Comment by Brian on October 23, 2010 @ 2:57 am
I just had a discussion today. Yes Bill Clinton presided over a lower increase in spending. He also had the opposition party in charge of the purse strings.
--
Comment by Jeff on October 26, 2010 @ 4:32 pm
Brian - and what is your reasoning behind the spending of George W Bush? It was the same "opposition" in charge of those same purse strings when Clinton was in office as to when W. Bush was in office. As much as you try to take the credit from Clinton & give it to the GOP congress are you going to place blame on the same GOP congress?
--
Comment by Mike on November 04, 2010 @ 4:43 pm
Can you break out spending YoY by congress to see if there's some truth to Brian's comment?
--
Comment by JAF on January 26, 2011 @ 1:37 pm
False!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms
--
Comment by Dave Manuel on January 27, 2011 @ 3:30 am
JAF -
What do you mean by "false"? These numbers came straight from whitehouse.gov, I just calculated the %s
--
Comment by Kevin Jackson on July 27, 2011 @ 7:43 pm
Does it account for Bush not having the wars on the books?
--
Comment by Dave Morris on September 06, 2011 @ 5:57 pm
Simply, one can not just look at spending. You have to also look at debt and GDP for balance, and then adjust for inflation and such. In which case, the GOP looks like the 'tax and spend' persona they claim they are so against - and the democrats look more like fiscal conservatives they supposedly are not. FYI -I'm an Independent.
--
Leave a Reply
|
Related Articles
|
|
