This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, January 25, 2010.

I'm Caleb Brown.

As you consider this week's State of the Union address and all the promises that will be made therein,

consider this.

President George W Bush was the biggest spending president since Linden Baines Johnson.

At least he was the biggest spender so far.

Chris Edwards, director of tax policy Studies at the Cato Institute, ran the numbers

on Bush's spending binge.

I took a last look at President George W Bush's spending policy over eight years.

Final numbers have come out for his last year in office, fiscal year 2009.

So I thought it was important to set the record straight once and for all

to show that George W Bush was a very big spender and frankly real

embarrassment to the Republican Party that's supposed to be the

fiscally conservative party.

A lot of people who defend Bush's record on spending point to 9-11, they point to spending that

occurred because of a ramping up of security spending. spending that

wash out.

wash out. The problem with President Bush

is he increased spending across the board. So he increased defense

spending substantially and Homeland Security spending, but he didn't use that as

an opportunity to try to get some efficiencies in domestic programs.

He added a new prescription drug bill which now costs over $60 billion a year.

...