Live From Hawaii; Who Wants To Be a Trillionaire?
Remember this one from Obama's Greatest Hits Album?
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 for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion 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.
That those words rolled so trippingly from the lips of a man that would go on to add more than $4 trillion to the national debt in less than four years speaks volumes about the President's definition of audacity.
As they say on late night television infomercials, "But wait! There's more!" A government that currently runs a debt of over $15 trillion doesn't quite do justice to the idea of audacity, or even garden variety lunacy. So, President Hopey Changey has asked Congress for an infusion of $1.2 trillion in fresh debt by December 30th. And, according to provisions of the last budget fiasco (which bequeathed us with that Olympian council known as the Super Committee), the President will have his request for fresh Monopoly money granted unless Congress votes down the request within 15 days after it has been formally submitted.
So let's see: 15 days to turn down a request for money that the President says he needs in the next three days, while he is vacationing Hawaii, and Congress is on vacation. Yes, these people are absolutely qualified to run healthcare, right? If you'll excuse me now, I think I need more egg nog.
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Jan '11
Re: Live From Hawaii; Who Wants To Be a Trillionaire?
This cannot be pinned entirely on presidents since it is the Congress which allows this to happen. And the Congress is just satisfying the wishes of the voters, few of whom that have the stomach to see their federal government do less. This is really the fault of voters who seemingly want everything to be paid for; just not with any of their own money. This is a major disconnect that will rectify itself at some point later on down the road...by then it's really going to be painful and weak-kneed people who don't want to face up to reality now surely won't have the endurance to tolerate the inevitable as it comes. How will this play out? Not so well, I imagine.
Mar '11
Re: Live From Hawaii; Who Wants To Be a Trillionaire?
I don't think its fair to say it's the voters fault. How many people voted for Bush's spending excesses? I voted for him twice because he was far better than the other guy, and both times I did so hoping he would govern more conservatively.
I'm sure, at least among Independents and given statements above, that many of the people who voted for Obama believed he was going to be more fiscally responsible.
But when historians look back on the debt crisis we are enduring today they are going to say that though the problem was trending in this direction the spending during the Bush-Obama epoch (hopefully it will be limited to just those two) is what brought about the destruction.
A president's main role is leadership, to guide the government as well as the nation, and both have done a very poor job. Clinton could have been added to this pair but a congress of the opposition party saved him from himself. Things are dire today and Americans are looking for a superman to save them; Mitt has the chin but that's it, the rest come off like wanna be side-kicks
Mar '11
Re: Live From Hawaii; Who Wants To Be a Trillionaire?
Let us consider Japan at the end of their asset price bubble and see: in December 1989 the Nikkei was at 38916, in December 2012 the Nikkei is at 8440; in 1989 the debt to GDP ratio was at 66%, in 2012 it is over 220%; since 1990 Japan's GDP growth rate has exceeded 2% only once, averaging under 1% and at one point hitting
-4.90% in March of 2009.
They used to call it the "Lost Decade", one supposes a plural is now required. So far U.S. policy makers are repeating every action in exactly the same fashion that Japan did after the collapse of their bubble. The fun additional rub is that the United States has no equivalent massive export market to sustain a limping domestic economy as Japan had two decades ago. It is no mystery how this will play out, any decent history of the Great Depression will do for a play by play.
Mar '11
Re: Live From Hawaii; Who Wants To Be a Trillionaire?
Obama promised greater transparency and after three years more people can see through him. This is one campaign promise he kept.