The Bush administration would continue on to increase government spending my roughly $1.2 trillion over the course of Bush's Presidency, while revenues would grow by approximately $500 million. This means that revenues rose roughly by 35% and spending by 65%, this increase in spending was more than under any predecessor since Lyndon B. Johnson. Bush would be advised that this would lead to a recession, but Bush argued that the tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. The biggest set-back for the Bush administration would be starting the War on Terror, this would prompt the President to shift money towards war efforts and away from the economy. This would bring negative effects, as even just two years after the shift towards supporting the War on Terror, unemployment would rise by 2.1% and the average revenue earned per household would drop by almost $1200. Over the course of his presidency the national debt would increase to $11.3 trillion when in 2000, the first year in office, the nation was sitting at a surplus of $237 billion, the largest surplus ever. By the end of 2008 with Bush's Presidency coming to close, the U.S. has lost a total of 2.6 million jobs and the economy was continuing to sink. (Goldman 2009) Many economists and world governments determined that the situation had become the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. (Elliot 2009). In 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama would question some of the decisions of the Bush administration when he voted against the raising of the debt ceilings saying that "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." (Zorn 2011). But when Obama took to office would he be able to live up to his criticism of the prior administration and be able to better stimulate the economy and help the labor market grow? Upon taking office Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this act included a $787 billion economic stimulus package that aimed to help the economy recover from the deficit it was currently faced with by increasing spending in health care, infrastructure, education and tax breaks.