It was interesting to watch Bernie and Hillary in the Democratic Debate the other night fight over who supports President Obama's agenda more and who could heap more praise on his efforts. As recent as the last election, Democrats were running away from any association at all with Obama. Now the two democratic presidential candidates are wanting to carry on his footsteps.
This on the heals of the US just surpassing the accumulation of $19 trillion in debt. I have not seen much of this historical catastrophe in the news media. You may be aware that there is a website that continuously tracks our debt, see http://www.usdebtclock.org/ . What this tells us is that the Obama presidency will go down in history as not only overseeing the first credit rating decline ever for our country, but also for more than doubling our obligated net debt. Yes, in just 8 years he has more than doubled our country’s net obligated debt which has been accumulated since the inception of the country (which is 232 years).
Senator Obama made this profound statement during his campaign before his first election:
“The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion dollars for the first 42 presidents — number 43 added $4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child.
That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.”
While I was certainly disappointed with the fiscal results of the Bush administration, the Obama administration has made their efforts look like child's play. After only his first term (4 years) as president, Obama presided over increasing our national debt by $5 trillion to over 15 trillion, which means he overspent in just four years what Bush overspent in two terms (8 years). And with the debt continuing to rise uncontrollably under his watch, it is projected to exceed $20 trillion by the end of Obama's term. I thought it would be interesting to update Obama's quote above for the projected $10 trillion plus he will add to Our National Debt. It would read as follows:
“The problem is, is that the way Bush Obama has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children children and grandchildren, driving up our national debt from $5 $10 trillion dollars for the first 42 43 presidents — number 43 44 added $4 another$10 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 $20 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 $60,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible (??? see below). It’s unpatriotic (??? see below).”
So it is very logical for us to be asking, if the addition of $5 trillion of debt is irresponsible and unpatriotic, what is adding $10 trillion? That is double the amount of Bush's increase and it also more than what all Presidents who preceded him added combined? It is by no means a stretch after he made the aforementioned statement for someone to substitute for irresponsible either ignorant, inept or possibly even intentional behavior. And to substitute for unpatriotic, the words criminal, act of terrorism or treason come to mind. What ever words you choose to substitute, it certainly is indefensible and has left a large hole which will cripple our country and economy for a very long time.
There is an old truism that states "You can't borrow your way to prosperity." Our financial statements are an indication of our our fiscal health. And they indicate that we are a country that needs a serious change in the way we have been doing things. We cannot afford to repeat what is leading us down this road to economic decline and ultimate ruin.
These past 15 years and especially the last 8 years clearly do not reflect a sustainable fiscal policy for our country. The real question is: Are our voters mature enough to elect someone who will take this on? No one likes to deal with cutbacks, but they must be done. Wee can't lose sight of the forest for the trees. I am fortunate to be able to reflect upon the fact that I have lived in the greatest country in the history of all mankind. But for now I am watching the financial deterioration of the USA. We are in great need of someone to lead the country who will responsibly address our fiscal health.
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8 comments:
Ya, that deficit is a real bear. Good thing Trump and the GOP are focused on fixing it ASAO. Oh wait:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/deficit-donald-trump-republicans-231372
Same as it ever was: IOKIYAR. Now and forever.
"No one likes to deal with cutbacks, but they must be done."
Ok, let's cut defense spending. We spend 600 billion a year, more than China, Russia, the UK, Saudi Arabia, India, France, Japan, Germany, South Korea, Brazil, Australia, Italy, and Israel COMBINED.
And let's repeal those multiple tax cuts for the 1% while we're at it.
But Right Wing Dad is suddenly going to realize that deficits don't matter anymore, because a Republican is going to be president. It's like clockwork.
Gruaud: Nailed it precisely. Not a stone unturned.
While Trump has claimed (lied?) that he's against War, he's also stated that the Military is in a "shambles" and needs to be beefed up. Trump is also, per usual R standards, proposing to cut the taxes of the super wealthy & corporations (most of whom don't pay any taxes anyway), while giving the middle classes a tax increase.
Trump also claims that he wants to start a bunch of infrastructure projects, which *I* support. However, whenever Obama talked about infrastructure projects the R Team went nutso and refused to indulge MarxistCommunistNaziKenyanUsurpers plans. I guess if it's a so-called "Republican" asking for money for infrastructure, the R team will view it as Ayn Randian request and grant it? Time will tell.
So Lessee: Trump plans to cut taxes of the super wealthy and attempt to make up the difference from increasing taxes on the stooges who voted for him. Trump also proposes bloating our already super bloated Military budget by some percentage more. And Trump proposes govt sponsored/funded Infrastructure projects.
Hmmmmm..... how's that deficit working out for ya, Trumpnadoes??
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/deficit-donald-trump-republicans-231372
Boom! There it is. I'm sure we'll never see this angry little screed recycled again for at least the next 4 years with both Bush's & Obama's names crossed off and with Trump's name there to take the blame.
Oh, I forgot the cardinal RULE: IOKIYAR (or, at least if you pretend to be one, like Trump has).
@ hooray
They'll blame Obama, not Trump.
Obama didn't double the national debt; George W. Bush did. Obama offered a number of solutions when he took office, and the Republicans blocked all of them.
Until he gets some economic policies of his own, we're still running on the ones from the previous administration.
That makes it Bush's fault.
That's a great point, Charlie. One that the Beltway media will never acknowledge.
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