im thinking that the keyword here is NEW. you can spend money on NEW spending, but still spend less OVERALL. for example, year X you spend 5 on A, 10 on B and 35 on C. you spent 55 overall. year Y you spend 2 on A, 6 on B, 20 on C. then you spend 15 on the new D program. you have 15 in NEW spending. that is, spending you didnt have before, even though you spent 12 LESS overall... ive done a cursory search for the numbers on obamas new spending, but havent found them... do they take into account savings accrued in other places? i would assume they DO. if they didnt, then why not just say 1 trillion MORE in government spending? please share if you have them...