Boehner On National Debt, He's One To Talk

I seriously wonder how Rep. Boehner manages to keep a straight face on when he talks about the worrisome rising national debt. While Bush nearly doubled the total, he said nothing. Now that Barack Obama is actually trying to save the economy by spending dollars on infrastructure, the Republican all of a sudden cares about deficit spending.



That goes for Mitch McConnell's feigned sincerity on the issue as well.

George Bush Creates Job For National Debt Clock

There has been so much horrific financial news lately. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost their jobs this year, pension plans have lost approximately $2,000,000,000,000.00 of their net worth, the Dow is in the toilet, the banking system is a mess, you get the picture. A lot of people are blaming George Bush for this and I for one, want to cut the guy some slack.

I mean, come on, how could he have known that pushing for more deregulation would have allowed so much greed to destroy the system? Paying for wars that cost over $12 billion a month wasn't part of his plan when he declared Mission Accomplished nearly 5 1/2 years ago either. Oh yeah and trade agreements that screw American jobs....well, he probably knew that would happen. So with this massive bailout plan that he helped push through Congress, George has actually done something for the group who operates the national debt clock. Due to his fiscal stewardship, they have to order a new clock that can handle all the new digits in the number.

From Think Progress:

The National Debt Clock in New York’s Times Square — first erected in 1989 when the debt was less than $3 trillion — cannot keep pace with the growing national debt, now at more than $10 trillion. NBC’s Brian Williams reported last night that “the debt has been piling up so fast lately they had to drop the dollar sign to make room for an extra digit.” A new clock with two extra digits will go up next year.

So there you have it, a little more productivity right here at home, just a few miles away from where the financial district is falling apart. Thanks Mr. President!

Congratulations! You Owe Ten Trillion Dollars!!!

Yes you read that right. No, you don't have to buy any magazines for that prize. Our nation is now saddled with over ten trillion dollars in debt and the number continues to grow and the rate of increase is moving higher and higher. When Clinton left office it was less than $6 trillion, which was lower than when Bush I left. Now Bush has got a real mark on his record and within a few months of his departure.

From The Swamp:

There were no fireworks so a lot of people probably missed it. We even forgot to mention it here on The Swamp when it happened though we saw the reports. Anyway, on the last day of September, the national debt hit $10 trillion plus.

President Bush signed legislation in July that raised the debt ceiling to $10.615 trillion. Meanwhile, the financial bailout legislation passed by the Senate last night would raise the debt ceiling further to $11.315 trillion.

Click on the article for the charts of how the history of our debt has changed in the last seventy years. It's really rather pathetic. When are politicians going to understand that you cannot keep borrowing obscene amounts of money to prop up false ideologies (like conservatism) to put a happy face on for the public?

It. Just. Doesn't. Work.....Damnit!

If Ballooning Debt Were A Good Thing, Bush Would Be A Great President

Of course rising national deficits and skyrocketing national/personal debt is a terrible thing for all of us, and is one of the many reasons that George Bush is a horrific President. He had claimed recently that his plans of reducing taxes on the rich and giving less to the poor was working. Too bad for him, the facts get in the way of that ridiculous assertion.

From RawStory:

President George W. Bush is leaving taxpayers with more than just a spate of scandals, tax cuts and warrantless wiretapping. He's also leaving the American people with a massive $438 billion deficit next year -- some 8 percent worse than this year, at $407 billion.

The $438 billion deficit next year does not include any accounting for Fannie Mae of Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants the US just took into receivership, and whose loans US taxpayers are now responsible for.[...]

President Bill Clinton left office with a federal budget surplus of $127 billion in 2001. That surplus was $200 billion in 2000.

What a difference eight years makes. I can't even imagine how much worse it would look if McCain got to take over for another four or (gasp!) eight. As the article notes, no matter who is President next year, there is no way that they can get around the massive deficits and piling debt that George Bush has given the United States during his term. The difference between McCain and Obama is that the former will keep piling on and the latter will work to reduce it.

The Three Trillion Dollar Road To Hell

When I was a kid and introduced to the Wizard of Oz, the yellow brick road amused me to no end....when I was four. Now George Bush literally wants to pave our way into the depths of perdition by wasting our resources, our military and domestic programs that help make us strong. For the first time ever, the requested national budget from the President is over three trillion dollars.

From RawStory:

The 2009 spending plan sent to Congress on Monday will project huge budget deficits, around $400 billion for this year and next and more than double the 2007 deficit of $163 billion. But even those estimates could prove too low given the rapidly weakening economy and the total costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Bush does not include in his request for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.

Last year, when Democrats were newly in the majority, there were drawn-out veto struggles. This year's fights could be worse because it is an election year.

As in past years, Bush's biggest proposed increases are in national security. Defense spending is projected to rise by about 7 percent to $515 billion and homeland security money by almost 11 percent, with a big gain for border security. Details on the budget were obtained through interviews with administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity until the budget's release.

The bulk of government programs for which Congress sets annual spending levels would remain essentially frozen at current levels. The president does shower extra money on some favored programs in education and to bolster inspections of imported food.

Bush's spending proposal would achieve sizable savings by slowing the growth in the major health programs — Medicare for retirees and Medicaid for the poor. There the president will be asking for almost $200 billion in cuts over five years, about three times the savings he proposed last year.

"Achieve sizable savings by slowing the growth in the major health programs....." That line is truly haunting. Instead of saving money by ending the war or keeping military projects within the Pentagon in place of ridiculously expensive contracts, we will be starving those most in need while continuing to sell our future away with a massive amount of debt.

If Bush is looking for a legacy, I believe 'death and destruction of country' already found him.

Deficit Projected To Be Higher This Year, But Truly How High

It is almost hard to imagine, but eight years ago the White House and Congress projected a $5.6 trillion dollar surplus during the decade. Thanks to a number of things (mostly Bush's terrible leadership) our national debt will nearly double instead, coming close to TEN trillion dollars. Bush promised us that if we cut taxes to the wealthy we'd see a huge within a few years. Well he turned Clinton's surpluses into deficits reaching over $400 billion dollars but for a while a strengthening economy (on the outside) reduced the deficit to a mere $163 billion for 2007.

Now the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office is predicting the U.S. to be $250 billion in the red for 2008. Now that number is far from accurate. For starters, only $30 billion is factored in for the war. Bush has requested far more than that and based on how the Democrats in Congress like to grab their ankles for the President, they'll most likely give him all of it.

Then there is the economy. The CBO is predicting growth this year at a slower rate than 2007 albeit, but their data is not as current as the market's and you know where many people think we're headed to....recessionland. With a recession, revenues are going to be down substantially. And to cap it off, Democrats again (blogger smacks head into table repeatedly) have agreed in principle to support $145 billion in deficit spending to "fix" our economic troubles by ingeniously giving more tax cuts where we do not need them. Eight hundred dollars in my pocket is great for buying crap that I do not need, but there are much better ways for the government to spend $145 billion. You know, like paying down the principle on our national debt, or a health care system that works, or fixing our infrastructure, or.....you get my point.

Basically, that $250 billion dollar shortfall predicted by the CBO is probably going to end up being Bush's worst year yet. Oh and you know how timely it is for him to hand it off to the next guy (or gal) to truly fix his gigantic mess.

McCain Hates Kids Too

Apparently John McCain is not satisfied with his attempts at sabotaging his own campaign. One of the reasons many attribute his downfall over the spring and summer months was his devotion to George Bush and the war. Since he is still technically in the race, it seems he thought one last blow might do him in. What better way to endorse a failed Presidency than to snub poor kids along with George?

From CNN:

"Right call by the president," the Republican White House hopeful told CNN's John King. "We've laid a debt on these same children ... that we're saying we're going to give health insurance to."

The bill, which would cost $35 billion over five years, is meant to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program to provide coverage to an additional 10 million children.

Bush said he vetoed the bill because he considered it a step towards "federalizing" medicine and an inappropriately expanding the program's goal beyond its original focus on helping poor children.

Hmmm, where do I start with this? Using the talking point that the bill is meant to help only the really, really poor children is ridiculous. Due to the skyrocketing costs of health insurance, it is impossible to afford it even if you are in the middle class, let alone near the poverty line.

As for the costs? Thirty-five billion over five years is a drop in the bucket compared to lost revenue from Bush's tax cuts and not even close to the costs of Bush's disastrous war in Iraq. It isn't hard to see that $35 billion for poor kids is a lot less than hundreds of billions for a pointless war. The fact that he calls this a debt on our children.....where the f**k does he get off trying to use that as a reason. As a Senator that approved and approves of this war, the tax cuts and many other drains on the treasury, he has no right to talk about putting debts on our children.

McCain may not be ashamed of his actions but the nation assuredly is.