Barack is Bush

Having recently discovered a couple of facts about spending growth during the Bush Administration, I have come to the conclusion that Barack Obama is, in fact, not the anti-Bush. I ran across these interesting facts from the book Liberal Fascism.

According to the book, Medicare spending increased by 52%, education spending went up 165% and antipoverty spending increased 41% during the Bush years. Antipoverty spending rose above 3% of GDP, an all time mark. Not to mention the colossal entitlement program, Medicare Part D, which is the largest entitlement created since the Great Society in the 1960’s, was signed by Bush. General spending overall increased under Bush at triple the rate that it did while Bill Clinton was president.

While President Bush also opened free trade with a number of countries and cut taxes (although temporarily), his economic policies were not staunchly conservative. In fact, in comparison to the fiscal policy of 2nd half of the Clinton era, Bush was rather moderate, or even liberal. Clinton, in the 2nd half of his eight years, signed “Welfare to Work” legislation that conservatives applauded as a step in the right direction as well as balanced the budget. Although, one must attribute a significant portion of these accomplishments to the “Contract with America” Republican Congress in addition to praising President Clinton for signing the legislation.

President Obama ran as the anti-Bush candidate. A true conservative could have done the same. The economic policies of the Bush Administration, especially the spending, stand somewhere between where a true conservative stands and where Barack Obama, a committed liberal spender, stands. So when President Obama blames the Bush economic and fiscal policies for the economic woes of today, I find it ironic that he is simply perpetuating the same fiscal irresponsibility, painting it as an “investment in the future,” and hoping for different results.

A true conservative would practice fiscal restraint by not turning a budget surplus into a deficit by increasing federal spending on healthcare, education and antipoverty measures, especially at a pace that outstripped inflation by such a great amount like Bush did. A true conservative can criticize President Bush and President Obama for being fiscally irresponsible. In fact, to a true conservative considering the fiscal situation, President Obama is very much like Bush, only more irresponsible.

What caused the recession that President Obama inherited from President Bush, the recession that Obama blames Bush for, was the bursting of the housing bubble. The housing bubble was inflated because of loose monetary policy (not the fault of the President, but of the federal reserve) and the moral hazard created by the federal governments implicit backing of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which allowed for the two securities firms to accumulate massive amounts of excessively risky debt that would not have absorbed in a truly free market.

To solve the problems that President Bush supposedly created, President Obama is running up massive deficits, larger than the Bush deficits dreamed of being, forcing the Fed to print money. This loose monetary policy will over –supply the market with cash, leading to inflation and another economic bubble. Furthermore, the government now explicitly guarantees the nations’ banks, much of the automobile industry as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In an ironic twist of fate, President Obama is like Bush on steroids when it comes to his fiscal and economic policy. He certainly cannot claim to be the anti-Bush.