It's official. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Steven and I are right-wing radical extremists.We had so much fun at the Tea Party Protest. 2500 people showed up to stand in the cold and rain and protest wasteful government spending. Steven wore his Uncle Sam costume from last fall, and held a sign that said "I want you...to stop stealing from my future." He received lots of attention from other protesters and many people asked to take photos of him. The picture to the left was on the Idaho Statesman website.
My uncle asked where my outrage was when Bush was over-spending and taking our rights away. And to a degree, he's right. Much of the frustration, of the protesters around the country, was aimed at both sides of the aisle, and Bush almost as much as Obama. Liberals need to learn from our mistake. We allowed Bush to overspend, and to whittle away at our freedoms, because we liked him, and we trusted him. Now that someone we don't like, and don't trust is in power, we wish we hadn't been so willing to give away our freedoms, because we'll never get them back. By the same token, as Obama runs up deficits like we've never seen before, and continues to whittle away at our rights, liberals need to remember that they may not like the next guy (or girl ;) who is in power. But she will have all of the power, that the guy they liked grabbed.
On the other hand, I think this graph of government deficits illustrates why so many Americans would take to the streets in protest of deficit spending. Obama's spending completely dwarfs Bush's.
That is a scary amount of money being spent in the next 10 years. Which begs the question, how will we ever repay it without crippling individual and corporate prosperity in our country? And if this is really the quickest, most painless way to fix this broken economy, at what cost? Is it worth what we will sacrifice in the future to make it happen?Sometimes I feel helpless frustration, because there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to change things. All I have is a small voice, and the power to vote. And so I will use my small voice, and I will vote. And I will pray that this nation I love continues to be great, in spite of a greedy, power-hungry government. (And I am talking about BOTH sides of the aisle.)
6 comments:
All your really need to point out is that Obama is spending more in his first 4 years than ALL OF THE PRESIDENTS BEFORE HIM COMBINED! I was not a fan of Bush's spending and I believe I said so many times. I was also not a fanof many of his policies. I was a fan of the way he kept this country safe and I figured Obama would reverse that. Obama has already changed a lot of the things that were put in place to keep us safe. Time will tell if that was a bad or good thing. I'm not terribly happy about Obama snuggling up to dictators like Ortega and Chavez. I suspect he'll be bowing to Ahmadinejad next. Are we really that bad a country that our leader has to cowtow to dictators?
The increasing deficit looks scary, that's for sure. We need to keep a couple of things in mind as we analyze it, however.
First, the Fiscal year runs from Oct 1 to Oct 1. So the 2009 deficit is based on President Bush's budget, and includes the nearly trillion dollars allocated for bailouts under President Bush. Obama's first budget (2010) will then actually lower the deficit. I admit this is a somewhat specious argument, since recent bailouts are being added to that 2009 budget.
Second, according the the CBO, the deficit has risen "Largely as a result of the enactment of recent legislation and the continuing turmoil in financial markets". In other words, bailouts and lower revenue due to the faltering economy.
Obama's 2010 budget asks for $3.55 trillion, vs. Bush's 2009 budget of $3.1 trillion, which greatly underestimated Iraq and Afghanistan war costs (These were funded separately with "supplemental" funding). $250 billion of Obama's budget is a reserve in case more money is needed to bail out banks.
These are also the years where the great bubble of baby-boomers start into retirement, increasing the SS payout and decreasing income tax revenues.
So my contention is that Obama's budget is really quite in line with Bush's budgets. The near-term projected deficits are mostly the result of a poor economy. Not that I'm a fan of any deficit, but I accept that it is necessary during these times.
All of that said, here's my bottom line. I think the deficits through 2012 are reasonable; they start very high because of the financial situation, but there is a steady trend downward. But to remain at $500 billion through the rest of the decade seems irresponsible.
Don, I don't know where you are getting your contention that Obama is spending more in 4 years than all the presidents before him combined. Please cite sources (adjusted for inflation, of course).
Youre right Daryl. I misspoke. What he really does is add more to the deficit than all presidents before him combined. Is that any better?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123629969453946717.html
Gee Robin, I hope we didn't scare you away from posting with our strident responses.
I'll try to be nice if you want to post again. ;)
No! I just got really busy all of a sudden...Easter, Women's Conference, a trip to a conference in Atlanta, Megan's Birthday, Mother's Day and Baby Dedications. It's been one thing after another. I haven't even read all of these comments. I'll catch up here pretty soon ;)
Yeah. I'm sure Daryl wants to know how much you like Nancy Pelosi! ;)
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