"Obama's tendency to spend spend spend." YES. $64 B *LESS* in FY 2013 than in FY 2009

I know you were being sarcastic, but anyway I thought I should post this because it is a widely held misimpression...

Note: all figures in this section are actual, not budgeted. I only point out that Bush signed the FY 2009 budget.

[div style="display:inline; font-size:1.37em; font-family:monospace; white-space:pre;"] v-last Bush budget was FY 2009 (all figures are actuals, not budgeted)
[div style="display:inline; font-size:1.37em; font-family:monospace; white-space:pre;"] 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Fiscal Year
[div style="display:inline; font-size:1.37em; font-family:monospace; white-space:pre;"] 2,983 3,518 3,457 3,603 3,538 3,454 Total Outlays, $Billions
[div style="display:inline; font-size:1.37em; font-family:monospace; white-space:pre;"] (450) (1,413) (1,294) (1,300) (1,089) (680) Surplus (deficit), $Billions
[div style="display:inline; font-size:1.37em; font-family:monospace; white-space:pre;"] (3.1) (9.8) (8.8) (8.4) (6.8) (4.1) Surplus (deficit), % of GDP

Source:
. . . http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43698 which links to the complete document at
. . . http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/44716-%20MBR_FY2013_0.pdf

[font color = blue]So FY 2013 federal spending was 64 B$ (1.8%) LESS THAN FY 2009 (the last Bush budgeted year). [/font]

Since the nominal (current dollar) GDP increased by 17.58% between FY 2009 (a recession low point) and FY 2013 (see next paragraph), while federal spending dropped 1.8%, that means federal spending as a percentage of GDP dropped substantially during those 4 years -- from 24.46% of GDP to 20.42% of GDP (calculations below). Something to keep in mind when some rightie rants and raves about the socialist Obama spending us into the poor house.

In Current Dollars: GDP FY 2009 (2009 Q3) = $14,384.4 billion . GDP FY 2013 (2013 Q3) = $16,912.9 billion -- an increase of 17.58% over FY 2009.
Source of GDP figures: http://www.bea.gov/national/xls/gdplev.xls
where FY 2009 = Q4 2008 through Q3 2009. And FY 2013 = Q4 2012 through Q3 2013.

FY 2009: Spending / GDP = 3518/14384 = 24.46% . FY 2013: Spending / GDP = 3454/16913 = 20.42%

The Fiscal Year 2009 budget (Oct. 1, 2008 - Sept 30, 2009) was signed into law by G.W. Bush, and the CBO on January 7, 2009 (13 days before Bush left office) projected a $1.2 trillion deficit for FY 2009. So all but about $200 billion of FY 2009 spending and deficits was "baked in" before Bush left office.

Oh, BTW, the CBO projects a $459 B deficit for FY 2014, according to an AP 5/13/14 story, a 32% drop from the FY 2013 deficit.