Perry Is A Bigger Spender Than Bush Was

people used to think that George Bush and Rick Perry were like peas in a pod. Both were Texas governors.  Both are Republicans. Both are far right-wing politicians. Both believe in "trickle-down" economic policies that favor corporations and the rich over ordinary citizens. Both adhere to fundamentalist christian beliefs like creationism, homophobia, and the mixing of church & state. And both claim to be conservative in fiscal spending of government.

In fact, when Perry replaced Bush as the governor of Texas he assured Texans that he was just like Bush and would continue Bush's policies. But that was before the disastrous Bush presidency (which threw the country into a recession costing millions of jobs and leaving the nation with a huge deficit). Now Perry is trying to back-pedal and distance himself from Bush.

Since the last election Perry has been accusing Bush of not controlling spending while governor of Texas. He told a group of Iowans, "Let me tell you something. George Bush was never a fiscal conservative. . .I mean, '95, '97, '99, George Bush was spending money." And Perry was right. The state spending during Bush's terms as governor rose, and it rose more that could be accounted for by inflation and population growth.

But Perry's accusation that Bush was a spender, while true, has bounced back and put egg on his own face. It turns out that Perry is a bigger spender than Bush was. It turns out that, according to the Legislative Budget Board, state spending under George Bush rose an average of 13.3% each biennium. But state spending under Rick Perry rose an average of 16.8% each biennium. And Perry remains the biggest spender of the two even after adjusting the figures for inflation and population growth. After these adjustments Bush had a rise in state spending of 2.3% each biennium, while Perry had a rise in state spending of 4.2% each biennium.

So it doesn't look like Rick Perry has any room to be bad-mouthing George Bush. Bush wasn't a good governor but he wasn't as big a spender as Perry -- and he didn't leave the state budget with a $27 billion hole in it like Perry did. And don't even try to claim Perry has plugged that massive budget hole. All he's done is kick the bills a little further down the road and arranged for a prayer rally to have god solve the problem for him.

Do we really want Rick Perry to be president? He would be even worse than George Bush was (because he's dumber, more incompetent, a better liar, and a bigger spender). I can't believe he's being seriously considered by Republicans as a presidential candidate. It just shows how bad a shape that party is in.