Posted on 08/06/2014 4:24:41 AM PDT by LeoMcNeil
In five and half years in office President Obama has presided over an increase in the national debt of $7 trillion. His predecessor presided over a $4.9 trillion increase in eight years. Obama called the increase in the debt under Bush “unamerican.” What do you want to bet Obama doesn’t think the same of his debt increase? No doubt he’ll blame others. Our nation has a national debt of $17.6 trillion, it’s increased $12 trillion since 2001. This sort of debt is unsustainable and yet no one is talking about it. It’s no surprise that Obama doesn’t want to talk about it. What’s the Republicans excuse for ignoring this crisis?
The last Republican Congress of the Bush era produced a fiscal year 2007 budget with a deficit of $161 billion. We can’t even dream of deficits that low these days. The best the Republicans have offered since Obama took over is a budget that might balance in a decade. None of Paul Ryan’s budgets produced a reduction in the debt, much less a basic balanced budget. Most Americans understand that it’s pure fantasy to write a budget that in a decade, with an entirely new Congress, will balance. Yet that’s the best we can get out of the Republicans, who refuse to offer any real changes to the Federal budget.
This is perhaps why Americans dislike the Republicans as much as Obama. What is the Republican plan of action concerning the debt? Tax cuts are necessary to get the economy going which increases Federal tax revenues. There has to be more to the Republican argument than tax cuts though. The Republicans actually have to propose cuts to the Federal budget, whether they’re to entitlement programs, the military or pork projects. Yet the Republicans never make these arguments. At best they offer a vague plan to eliminate Obamacare and cut back on wasteful spending without ever defining what is wasteful.
Obama is on his way out in 2017. He’ll add another trillion or two onto the deficit before he leaves office. If the Republicans think nominating Mitt Romney again is the answer to their White House woes, they’re sadly mistaken. Romney never offered a concrete plan to reduce spending and the debt. If the Republicans want to win in two years, they have to nominate a conservative with a solid plan to cut the size of the Federal government. Government is too big, it costs too much money. We can no longer afford to offer endless entitlements, we can no longer afford to not streamline the government.
The odds of the GOP nominating a conservative appear slim and thus we’ll likely face ruin with a Democrat like Hillary Clinton. Hillary won’t do anything to curb the deficit. Unlike her husband, who was willing negotiate with Republicans to get something he wanted, Hillary is an ideologue committed to the leftist cause. She’ll negotiate with Republicans more than Obama but she isn’t going to cut back on entitlements or the size and scope of government. As such, the debt will continue to go up. At some point we won’t be able to pay our bills anymore. That point is coming sooner rather than later. Neither party seems particularly interested.
Buying votes ain’t cheap......
James Baker said, in an interview, that the debt is the single biggest threat to US security.
That is why you have a budget, and an accounting system
Now you know why the Senate doesn't pass a budget ,.. much less "on time "
It's time to put the House and the Senate on a budget <-- just a most American families have to do on a monthly basis !!
The Liberals REALLY don’t care at all. At least we have a segment of the Republican party that cares (Tea Party).
Not to mention the idiot low-information Repuke voters sent back ALL of their incumbent senators. What a joke our democracy has become.
I wonder if that will start a civil war, a world war, or maybe both?
More than likely it's because they care only about themselves; but maybe it's because, and I remember, in 1947 a loaf of bread was $0.25 and $3,600 was not a bad annual salary. So when bread reaches $25 a loaf and the average salary is $360,000 $17 trillion will be just $1,700,000,000,000. :)
at the end of WW II the debt/GDP ratio was well above 100 percent. -- and paid off ourselves with a lot of help from inflation.
"If the real interest rate were zero and expected to remain so, the least destructive way to finance government spending would be borrowing rather than taxing."
>>> unfunded liabilities .....
That’s the headache in the future, today’s Americans don’t seem to care. Not just the politicians.
If anybody is serious about “unfunded liabilities”, Social Security and other gubmint subsidies would have been taken care of by now.
???
This is news?
When did this become news?
Recall that 2012 GOP primary debate when they were asked about $10 in spending cuts for $1 of tax increases ...and every one said 'hell no'
They can afford to ignore the deficit and the debt and the unfunded liabilities. That’s what tax slavery is for. At this point, working to earn taxable income is just that: tax slavery. There is no prospect of this generation or foreseeable generations of working Americans ever getting out from under the consequences of runaway government spending. So the politicians can ignore it because the people they “serve” will just have to keep working and paying.
I had a discussion with a liberal about this. He said that the problem is caused by not taxing corporations enough. He also said that the accounting system is flawed because the money you earn is actually government money and the government allows you to keep some of it. If you consider that every cent earned in the US belongs to the government, then the debt isn’t very bad at all.
Loved reading about the Fed yesterday on Free Republic. Real eye opener.
“Century of Enslavement: The History of The Federal Reserve”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3189313/posts
I always do my own research after reading the original thread if it warrants. I want to know who is behind all this and learned more here:
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/fed_reserve.htm
I’ve had a couple of those dreams. VERY vivid and not like the usual where everything changes quickly. Mine always have jets and helos. The last one was just before the last Iraq war.
We haven’t stopped fighting since, eh?
Makes me have a lot more compassion for those who have continual nightmares.
Neither party cares about Americans, period.
(bump)
No doubt. The GOP has been dishonest and their best plan, the Ryan Plan doesn’t engage in any meaningful cutting.
That is true, there is at least a segment of the GOP that cares. I think the public cares about this issue, which makes it surprising how little both parties pay at least lip service to the reducing the debt.
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