iBrasten

A favorite critique being thrown around by Democrats lately has been the whole comparison of government spending under Republican and Democratic presidents. That comparison, honestly, comes out looking really bad for Republicans -- the "party of fiscal responsibility."

Reality, of course, is slightly different than the rhetoric. Unfortunately, the Republicans seem content to let the American public turn against them... sooo, I'll do their job for them, I guess.

Reality: The President has exactly NO authorization to spend money under the Constitution. While the President does send a budget to Congress, Congress is under no particular obligation to follow anything in it. It is Congress' job to set the spending levels, and ultimately Congress is responsible for whatever spending occurs under their leadership.

So, with that in mind, I present you with an alternative graph I came up with. It's a work in progress, but it tracks the relative strength of the political parties IN CONGRESS with the change (in percentage) to the National Debt. The center line relates to the debt indicators and represents 0%. Anything lower than that is a reduction in the debt, and anything higher is an increase.