Obama’s Math Problem

October 26, 2012

Obama’s Math Problem

Obama Admits He Struggles with “the Math Stuff”—The $5.6 Trillion He’s Added to the National Debt Makes that Abundantly Clear

President Obama joked Wednesday that he has trouble with “the math stuff”—and it shows. Obama and Democrats have run four straight years of trillion dollar deficits after promising to cut the deficit in half.
Indeed, the national debt is now $5.5 trillion bigger than it was when Obama took office, and President Obama wants to keep spending.
The Democrats’ calculation—that spending more money we don’t have will somehow fix the economy—just hasn’t worked for middle class families who are now making less than they were when Obama took office. We can’t afford four more years of Democrat math.

President Obama joked Wednesday that he has trouble with “the math stuff”—and it shows. Obama and Democrats have run four straight years of trillion dollar deficits after promising to cut the deficit in half:

OBAMA: I STRUGGLE WITH “THE MATH STUFF”: (“Obama Struggles with the Math Stuff,” The Washington Free Beacon, 10/25/2012)

NO KIDDING: FOUR STRAIGHT YEARS OF SPENDING A TRILLION MORE THAN MORE THAN WE TAKE IN: (Andrew Taylor, “CBO Tallies 2012 Deficit at $1.1T,” Associated Press, 10/5/2012)

PROMISE BROKEN:OBAMA PLEDGED TO “CUT THE DEFICIT WE INHERITED IN HALF BY THE ENTIRE OF MY FIRST TERM IN OFFICE”: “Today I am pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. Now, this will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay, and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.” (Molly Moorhead, “Romney Says Obama Promised to Cut the Deficit in Half,” Politifact, 10/3/2012)

Indeed, the national debt is now $5.5 trillion bigger than it was when Obama took office, and President Obama wants to keep spending:

NOW OBAMA PROMISES TO CUT DEFICIT BY $4 TRILLION IN A 2^nd TERM:(“A Plan for Jobs and Middle Class Security,” Obama for America, 10/23/2012)

BUT $5.58 TRILLION INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 10/18/2012)

NATIONAL DEBT CURRENTLY STANDS AT $16.20 TRILLION; SIZE OF NATION’S ECONOMY AT $15.59 TRILLION: (“The Daily History of the Debt Results,” Bureau of the Public Debt, Accessed 10/19/2012; Bureau of Economic Analysis, 9/27/2012)

STUDY: ANNUAL COST OF OBAMA’S DEBT AMOUNTS TO $4,000 A YEAR IN HIGHER TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS: “In a new paper, AEI’s Aspen Gorry and Matt Jensen look at the real annual cost of servicing the debt for households at various levels of income — including a potentially higher tax burden. As the table below illustrates, a household making between $100,000 and $200,000 a year could find its tax liability higher by roughly $2,400 every year. Over ten years, that works out to $24,000. And when you add in the debt already accrued the past four years under President Obama (the second table), that’s another $1,600 a year. So now we are now talking about $4,000 a year, $40,000 over ten years.” (James Pethokoukis, “Study: Obama’s Big Budget Deficits Could Mean A $4,000 A Year Middle-Class Tax Hike,” American Enterprise Institute, 10/2/12)

POLITIFACT SAID LAST YEAR THAT OBAMA WAS THE “UNDISPUTED DEBT KING OF THE LAST FIVE PRESIDENTS”: “Obama is the undisputed debt king of the last five presidents, rather than the guy who added a piddling mount to the debt.” (Louis Jacobson, “Nancy Pelosi Posts Questionable Chart on Debt Accumulation by Barack Obama, Predecessors,” Politifact, 5/19/2011)

THREE YEARS AND TWO MONTHS OF OBAMA WAS MORE DEBT THAN EIGHT YEARS OF PREDECESSOR: “The National Debt has now increased more during President Obama’s three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency. The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama took office.” (Mark Knoller, “National Debt Has Increased More Under Obama than Under Bush,” CBS News, 3/19/2012)

OBAMA RECORD “THE MOST RAPID INCREASE IN THE DEBT UNDER ANY U.S. PRESIDENT”: (Mark Knoller, “National debt has increased $4 trillion under Obama,” CBS News’ Political Hotsheet Blog, 8/22/2011)

CHINA OWNS $1.15 TRILLION IN U.S. DEBT: (“Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, 10/16/2012)

OBAMA AND FELLOW DEMOCRATS “THREATEN TO GO OVER ‘FISCAL CLIFF’ IF GOP FAILS TO RAISE TAXES” TO LET THEM KEEP SPENDING: (Lori Montgomery, “Democrats Threaten to Go Over ‘Fiscal Cliff’ if GOP Fails to Raise Taxes,” The Washington Post, 7/16/2012)

The Democrats’ calculation—that spending more money we don’t have will somehow fix the economy—just hasn’t worked for middle class families who are now making less than they were when Obama took office. We can’t afford four more years of Democrat math:

MEDIAN INCOME WAS $55,198 WHEN OBAMA TOOK OFFICE; IT IS $50,678 TODAY: (“Household Income Down 8.2 Percent Since Obama Took Office,” Fox News, 9/26/2012)

U.S. INCOMES FELL MORE AFTER STIMULUS THAN DURING RECESSION: (Jeff Kearn, “U.S. Incomes Fell More in Recovery, Sentier Says,” Bloomberg, 8/23/2012)

NEW REPORT: “FORECLOSURE FALLOUT COST NEARBY HOMEOWNERS NEARLY $2 TRILLION, REPORT FINDS”: (John Schoen, “Foreclosure Fallout Cost Nearby Homeowners Nearly $2 Trillion, Report Finds,” NBC News, 10/25/2012)

23 MILLION UNEMPLOYED, UNDEREMPLOYED AND DISCOURAGED WORKERS: (“The Employment Situation—August 2012,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10/5/2012)

UNEMPLOYMENT ABOVE 8% FOR 43 STRAIGHT MONTHS UNDER OBAMA, MORE THAN 11 PREVIOUS PRESIDENTS COMBINED: (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10/7/2012)

WHITE HOUSE HAD PREDICTED UNEMPLOYMENT WOULD BE AT ABOUT 5.6% NOW IF WE PASSED THEIR STIMULUS: (James Pethokoukis, “The Awful, Awful August Jobs Report,” The American Enterprise Institute, 9/7/2012)

FOOD STAMP ENROLLMENT AT ALL TIME HIGH OF 46.7 MILLION, UP FROM 32 MILLION WHEN OBAMA TOOK OFFICE:(“Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” US Department of Agriculture, 9/28/2012)

“US POVERTY RATE 15 PERCENT; RECORD NUMBERS PERSIST”: (Hope Yen, “US Poverty Rate 15 Percent; Record Numbers Persist,” Associated Press, 9/12/2012)

Obama’s Math Problem http://ow.ly/eLLCT