Obama's Not A "Tax & Spend" Liberal

If you listen to the lies being spread by Republicans, you would believe that President Obama has raised taxes and is spending more money, which is driving up the federal deficit. Of course, none of that is even close to being true.

As the chart above shows, the revenue from taxes is lower now than when President Obama took office. That's because one of the first things he did after being sworn in was to cut taxes for working Americans (about $400 for each worker). But this was not a Republican-style tax cut, because it only affected workers who had earned income -- not the super-rich who make most of their money from capital gains. That's why the Republicans refuse to admit it even happened. But whether they want to admit it or not, taxes for most Americans are lower now than they were during the Bush administration.

And spending (as a percentage of GDP) is also lower under President Obama. The federal government is spending less now than it was spending when President Obama took office. And that lower spending has lowered the deficit (which is also smaller now than when the president took office). This brings up an important question -- if taxes federal spending, and the deficit are all lower now than under Bush II, why do so many Americans believe all three have risen under President Obama?

I believe there are two main causes. First, the teabaggers hate the president so much (probably because he is African-American) that they refuse to admit to any of the facts -- even when those facts show they are getting exactly what they have demanded (lower taxes, lower federal spending, and a lower deficit). Their blind hatred won't allow them to see the truth.

The Republicans and the media must also take their share of the blame. The mainstream media (probably because of their corporate ownership) has repeatedly allowed the Republicans to spread these lies without calling them on it. They call it presenting both sides of the economic argument, but it is not. Telling lies is not the same as presenting a valid economic argument -- it is just the telling of lies. The media should be calling the liars out when they do this (and previous generations of journalists would have done that). By not exposing the lies, the media have made themselves complicit in the spreading of those lies.

The truth is that President Obama is not the "tax and spend" liberal that the Republicans want the public to believe he is. As a progressive, I wish he was. We need the government to raise taxes and spend more to create jobs and stimulate the economy -- even if it results in a short-term rise in the deficit. It is the only way out of the recession (depression?). Austerity, even when done by well-meaning Democrats, will only push any recovery far down the road.