With this post, I hope to provide some assistance in sorting out the blame for the United States national debt, which is over 12 trillion dollars, amounting to over $113,000 per taxpayer and over $40,000 per citizen.First, President George W. Bush deserves blame for the national debt. When he took office, the national debt was 5.7 trillion dollars. When Obama took office, the national debt was 10.6 trillion dollars. The nation racked up 4.9 trillion dollars of debt under the Bush presidency. As I heard someone characterize it---he spent like a drunken Marxist.
Second, how does debt grow? Most of you know this. The national debt grows when our government spends more money than what it takes in. It is the same way your own debt increases. If the government spent no money, no debt would accumulate.
The money the government spends comes from the federal taxes upon the United States citizens. Another way to avoid debt is to increase the total amount of taxes paid. If the government brings in more revenue than what it spends, debt will decrease. How to increase the revenue is a little more tricky than how to decrease the spending. What I have noticed in my lifetime is that governments that cut taxes increase government revenue. That doesn't make sense to some people. How could the government increase its revenue by decreasing taxes, when taxes are the only way a government can get money to spend? What I have witnessed is that the decrease of taxes results in the growth of the economy. More money is invested in private enterprise resulting in more production of wealth. Even though a smaller percentage of taxes are paid, the total amount of taxes increases because of the increased productivity and wealth. It's as simple as this: people work harder when they get to keep more of what they earn. When they work harder, they increase productivity and then wealth.
However, for the sake of argument, let's keep the revenue side out of this. Some argue for raising taxes as a means of increasing revenue. Others contend that lowering taxes will raise the revenue. We all know that cutting spending will lower the national debt. There is no argument on that.
Spending increased in the Bush government. He's to blame.
Third, were President Obama and Vice President Biden also part of the government when George W. Bush was president? Yes, they were. They were two of the only fifty United States Senators, Senator Obama from Illinois and Senator Biden from Delaware. Barack Obama was a Senator in the United States Congress from January 3, 2005 to November 16, 2008. Joe Biden was a Senator during the entire Bush presidency.
Fourth, did Senator Obama, and now President Obama, try to cut spending or did he vote to spend more as a Senator during those years of the Bush presidency? Congress does, if you didn't know it already, control the purse strings in our government. Money spending starts with Congress. The Senate is one house of the U. S. Congress. Certainly the president must approve of that spending, but no spending would occur without the Congress initiating it. Then Senator Obama was part of the Congress the last four years while Bush was president. The Democrats also controlled both houses of Congress after 2006.
We know how Senator Obama voted as a Senator and he rarely voted against spending more money. When now President Obama was a Senator, he also often voted against spending cuts. The National Taxpayers Association reported that in the 110th Congress, then Senator Obama was by far one of the biggest spenders. If you just look at his time in the Senate in 2007, Obama voted "NO" to "To pay down the Federal debt and eliminate government waste by reducing spending on programs rated ineffective by the Program Assessment Rating Tool" on March 22, 2007. Just quickly scanning his record, he voted "YES" to additional spending on 3/7/06, 3/14/06, 3/15/06 (twice), 3/16/06 (six times), 4/3/06, 5/18/06, 3/23/07, 3/29/07, 6/6/07, 6/19/07, etc.
So the answer is that, "yes," Senator Obama supported and contributed to the increase in the national debt. He was not a force toward shrinking the debt, but an encouragement toward growing it.
Since President Obama became president, in a little more than a year the debt has increased from 10.6 trillion to 12.3 trillion. That's 1.7 trillion increase in national debt since Barack Obama became president. If you project that over his four years, he will have increased the national debt over 1 trillion dollars more in four years than what President Bush did in eight.
Someone who complains and blames about inherited debt, who racks up debt the fastest in all history, is like someone who complains and blames about frowning, who has a permanent scowl on his face. The person who blames someone else about inherited debt, who multiplies the debt like no other, is like someone who complains and blames about boogers, when he's got boogers all over. You can put his face next to hypocrite in the dictionary.
Fifth, no one who grows the national debt by supporting increased spending and then himself increases the national debt faster than anyone ever shall be able to blame anyone for increasing the national debt. All blame of others or predecessors by such persons shall be ignored.
7 comments:
This is why I love John Jordan (R, OH). He's about the closest thing to a budget hawk we have in the House. And I get to vote for him every two years!
Interesting choice of cartoon there Pastor B. On the left is Prime Minister John Howard, and on the right is Treasure Peter Costello - a dynamic duo that reduced Australia's national debt dramatically over the course of 10 years. We then promptly voted that government out and brought in the spenders.
From Wikipedia:
The Liberal/National coalition headed by John Howard won the 1996 election, defeating Labor's Paul Keating, and Peter Costello became Federal Treasurer at age 38. He oversaw the return to and maintenance of federal budget surpluses, which enabled significant reduction in government debt. Inflation, interest rates[10] and unemployment all fell and remained generally low during Costello's term as Treasurer, although average household debt more than doubled.
The following is some British humour on American Politics.
NOTICE OF REVOCATION OF INDEPENDENCE
To the citizens of the United States of America,
In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Gordon Brown, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour', skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise". You will learn that the suffix 'burgh is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed".
2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'U' and the elimination of "-ize".
3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to Cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian. You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents - Scottish dramas will no longer be broadcast with subtitles. While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon". If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.
4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters. British sit-coms will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness.
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Continued from above
5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.
6. You should stop playing American "football". There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the South Africans. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2015. You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders" which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons. The 97.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys.8. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public. This is because you cannot settle your differences without using guns, lawyers or therapists. If you cannot settle your disputes without suing somebody or going to therapy, you are not adult enough to handle a gun – guns should only be handled by adults.
9. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day".
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10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are trash and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
11. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps". Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is vinegar which you will start using instead of “catsup”.
12. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself. Tea time is at 4:30 and the tea is to be served hot and drunk from cups – never mugs. It is to be accompanied by scones and strawberries (when in season).
13. From November 1st the UK will harmonise petrol (or "Gasoline" as you will be permitted to keep calling it until April 1st 2011) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon - get used to it).
14. You will stop using the dollar. Your new currency is the Pound. To aid in counting the coins that make up a pound, arithmetic charts will be made available. It is stupid to use a Spanish currency which the Spanish long since discarded as worthless. In the light of your present economy, this is a great boon.
15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.
16. Last of all, and for heaven’s sake, it is as follows: 1. “again rhymes with rain” 2. “Nuclear not nucular” and “Missile” not “Mistle”.
Thank you for your cooperation. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).
Claymore,
1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour', skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise". You will learn that the suffix 'burgh is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation.
I say, old chap, I'm already on this.
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