Obama gets hawkish on $pending, to our peril

NY Post ^ | January 31, 2010 | Terry Keenan

[Scanian]

It was the first good week of the new year for President Obama.

On Wednesday, his Treasury Secretary survived a grueling grilling on Capital Hill, while the next day Ben Bernanke, his nominee for Fed Chairman, was approved by the Senate -- in a squeaker of a vote.

But the best news came last, on Friday, when the Commerce Department reported that the economy grew at a robust 5.7 percent annual rate as we closed out last year. For the White House the news seemingly couldn't have come at a better time.

That's because word of the best economic output since 2003 is a welcome backdrop for an administration that is now hell-bent on pursuing a more "populist" agenda, replete with spending freezes and talk, at least, about government belt-tightening. And therein lies the risk -- one quarter does not a recovery make, and the chances of slipping into a double-dip recession remain far from remote.

[ComputerGuy]

What part of the economy are they talking about? GDP?
It seems to me that government spending is all that's going up.

[nhwingut]

...word of the best economic output since 2003 is a welcome backdrop

Wasn't Booosh president in 2003? Didn't the Repubs control both houses? Wasn't 2003 part of the "lost decade?"

[Pietro]

I tell you my FRiends that O's budget is an opening for us.

Forget this ridiculus "growth" number; the only growth we'll see is in the national debt!

Increasing our debt empowers China and saps our strength. The US economy unleashed will chew up the Chinese command economy and restore balance to international trade.

Federal spending must be slashed by 2% per annum for the next five years. That should be our goal.