Obama vs. Recent Presidents on Spending...Surprise, Surprise...

The following is a direct quote from the MittRomney.com campaign website:

"Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history, taking us from an already staggering $3.5 trillion in federal spending in 2010 to a projected $5.6 trillion within the next decade. This sharp rise has been entirely a matter of choice. Even as federal spending remains wholly within our control, Washington is spending money in an out-of-control fashion."

This is a direct quote from a speech Mitt Romney gave on May 15th in Des Moines, Iowa:
"A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation, and every day we fail to act that fire gets closer to the homes and children we love," Romney told supporters at a downtown Des Moines hotel. He emphasized an issue that's a big concern of the middle-class voters from across the political spectrum he and Obama are wooing." (Huffington Post.com)

Today's Wall Street Journal has an interesting article by Rex Nutting that makes a pretty convincing case that this notion that Barack Obama is spending money more than any recent President, is simply not grounded in reality. He doesn't make the case that Obama isn't spending a lot of money, but the claims from the Romney camp that Obama is spending more/faster are the focus of the piece.

Read Nutting's article here...

Two charts illustrate the author's point: 

...and the second: 

These numbers include the Stimulus package of 2009. 

Much like "Obama's a Muslim," "Obama's not an American", the meme that "Obama has increased spending faster than anyone ever" isn't true. That said, this claim isn't about to go away anytime soon.

 Sources:

http://www.mittromney.com/issues/spending

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-spending-binge-never-happened-2012-05-22