Obama's handling of the budget and the economy was not as bad as most conservatives believe it was, and it is not as good as most liberals claim it was. Some points:
* True, Obama jacked up spending in his first year, but he actually imposed a net cut on spending the following year (2010), before sequestration was even debated, and he held spending to virtually flat-lined levels through 2015 (US Federal Spending Analysis - Charts Tables History). Yes, the spending restraint from 2012 through 2015 was because of the sequester, but Obama agreed to the sequester--he could have vetoed it, but he did not.
* In connection with the above, Obama increased the national debt by a much smaller percentage than Bush did. Bush increased the debt by 101%. Obama increased it by 68%, one-third less than Bush.
* During Obama's 8 years, 17 million new jobs were created, a 12.8% increase, which far surpasses Bush's record on job creation (Which President Created the Most Jobs?).
* Under Obama, we had 74 consecutive months of job growth, from October 2010 to December 2016 (Bureau of Labor Statistics Data).
* The biggest chunk of Obama's much-maligned stimulus packet was devoted to tax cuts. Of the $787 billion, $288 billion was for tax cuts. Another $275 billion was for job creation via federal contracts, grants, and loans.
* Obama signed numerous tax-cut measures, both for individuals and for small businesses. He also made most of the Bush tax cuts permanent, against the advice of many liberal economists. Some of his other tax cuts included the following:
* A typical family making $50,000 a year received tax cuts totaling $3,600 in President Obama’s first term, more if they were putting a child through college.
* Improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), enacted in 2009 under Obama and later made permanent provided roughly 16 million working families a year with a tax cut of about $900 on average.
* The 2015 budget deal lifted the sequester's caps but it also contained well over $600 billion in tax cuts/tax breaks and lifted the ban on oil exports.
Of course, there were some black marks. We actually lost manufacturing jobs under Obama, although the loss was relatively small--we went from 12,561,000 manufacturing jobs in January 2009 to 12,369,000 in January 2017. Another problem was that the stock market's growth was somewhat weak. Over-regulation was a drag on many business sectors. A sizable number of the new jobs that were created were modest-income jobs and part-time jobs, but the majority were good jobs. The U-6 rate, aka the "real unemployment rate," stayed unusually high for most of Obama's presidency. Obamacare caused many companies to change full-time positions to part-time positions to avoid having to offer health insurance.
On balance, Obama did a better of dealing with the budget and the economy than most conservatives give him credit for.
* True, Obama jacked up spending in his first year, but he actually imposed a net cut on spending the following year (2010), before sequestration was even debated, and he held spending to virtually flat-lined levels through 2015 (US Federal Spending Analysis - Charts Tables History). Yes, the spending restraint from 2012 through 2015 was because of the sequester, but Obama agreed to the sequester--he could have vetoed it, but he did not.
* In connection with the above, Obama increased the national debt by a much smaller percentage than Bush did. Bush increased the debt by 101%. Obama increased it by 68%, one-third less than Bush.
* During Obama's 8 years, 17 million new jobs were created, a 12.8% increase, which far surpasses Bush's record on job creation (Which President Created the Most Jobs?).
* Under Obama, we had 74 consecutive months of job growth, from October 2010 to December 2016 (Bureau of Labor Statistics Data).
* The biggest chunk of Obama's much-maligned stimulus packet was devoted to tax cuts. Of the $787 billion, $288 billion was for tax cuts. Another $275 billion was for job creation via federal contracts, grants, and loans.
* Obama signed numerous tax-cut measures, both for individuals and for small businesses. He also made most of the Bush tax cuts permanent, against the advice of many liberal economists. Some of his other tax cuts included the following:
In 2010, President Obama signed an $858 billion tax cut deal. It extended the Bush tax cuts through 2012 and unemployment benefits through 2011. It cut payroll taxes by 2 percent, adding $120 million to workers' spendable income. It extended a college tuition tax credit. It also included $55 billion in industry-specific tax cuts. (https://www.thebalance.com/obama-tax-cuts-3306330; see also https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/taxes;
(https://www.cnbc.com/id/49261153; Obama Proposes Extending Small Business Tax Cuts Permanently | Andersen CPA Firm)
(https://www.cnbc.com/id/49261153; Obama Proposes Extending Small Business Tax Cuts Permanently | Andersen CPA Firm)
* A typical family making $50,000 a year received tax cuts totaling $3,600 in President Obama’s first term, more if they were putting a child through college.
* Improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), enacted in 2009 under Obama and later made permanent provided roughly 16 million working families a year with a tax cut of about $900 on average.
* The 2015 budget deal lifted the sequester's caps but it also contained well over $600 billion in tax cuts/tax breaks and lifted the ban on oil exports.
Of course, there were some black marks. We actually lost manufacturing jobs under Obama, although the loss was relatively small--we went from 12,561,000 manufacturing jobs in January 2009 to 12,369,000 in January 2017. Another problem was that the stock market's growth was somewhat weak. Over-regulation was a drag on many business sectors. A sizable number of the new jobs that were created were modest-income jobs and part-time jobs, but the majority were good jobs. The U-6 rate, aka the "real unemployment rate," stayed unusually high for most of Obama's presidency. Obamacare caused many companies to change full-time positions to part-time positions to avoid having to offer health insurance.
On balance, Obama did a better of dealing with the budget and the economy than most conservatives give him credit for.
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