Fine: We have spent money like a drunken Kennedy in a whore house.
And, unfortunately, for the things he did right, this is one Bush did very wrong.
Most spending is mandated by laws ( for example social security, Medicare , Medicaid). Can a president reduce the number of people who get social security disability benefits or Medicare?NO. Are 14% of Americans really disabled or are they getting a free ride? You decide.
These laws have been passed by mostly by big government Democrats like FDR.
The only way to really decrease spending,stop the United States from becoming bankrupt, and reduce the size of government is to repeal many of these laws passed in the last one hundred years especially the 16th ammendment and the environmental laws that are crippling manufactoring and the energy industry in the U.S..
I haven’t seen anybody, including any politician make this point. Most spending (84%) if you include military spending is mandatory and increases are mandatory. Most government educated people think that a president rules by decree. The U.S. is still a nation of laws and a president has to follow the law too. This is why Bush and even Reagan could not reduce spending. Nobody has been for limiting government and government spending more than Ronald Reagan but he could not do it because of this reason.