Where's the Iraq War?

[cthulu2016]

This is combined government (Federal, state, local) purchases of goods and services. Purchases, as opposed to transfer payments like Social Security and Medicare



Two points. First the Obama runaway government era is a complete fanatsy. There is waaaay less government today than when Obama took office.

Second... where's the Iraq War???

Yes, the hollowing out of American government was so rampant during the Bush administration that fighting two freaking wars doesn't even show up when we subtract all the money not being spent on public investment, like infrastructure and such.

Amazing.

Chart from: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/the-secret-of-our-non-success/

[ProSense]

1. That is

"First the Obama runaway government era is a complete fanatsy."

...simply the Republicans pushing BS spin to distract the public from their horrendous actions. In fact, as Krugman points out the cuts to government were at the state and local level.

<...>

Obama, far from presiding over a huge expansion of government the way the right claims, has in fact presided over unprecedented austerity, largely driven by cuts at the state and local level. And it’s therefore an amazing triumph of misinformation the way that lackluster economic performance has been interpreted as a failure of government spending.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/27/the-secret-of-our-non-success/

More Krugman:

<...>

That spike early on is Census hiring; once that was past, the Obama years shaped up as an era of huge cuts in public employment compared with previous experience. If public employment had grown the way it did under Bush, we’d have 1.3 million more government workers, and probably an unemployment rate of 7 percent or less.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/american-austerity/

Republicans were and are intent on sabotaging the recovery.

[banned from Kos]

2. Important chart - thanks. I had not seen it.

The title could use more bite.

[cthulu2016]

3. I'll try a new one

(Yes, I got the joke, but will try a new title anyway)