[AndyJackson]

It is a great analysis, but it is wrong. The US economy is where it is because of a few decades of poor monetary policy, poor regulatory policy, and the resulting malinvestment on a massive nationwide scale. I don’t like Obama, but most of our public debt and almost all of our private debt were from things that happened long before O got into office.

[GeronL]

That is true but the last 2 years the deficit numbers have been staggering.

[Yosemitest]

An update from the previous show...

Terry Jeffrey, Cybercast News Service:
"President Barack Obama told CBS News [yesterday]
that there may not be enough money in the U.S. Treasury to cover Social Security checks after Aug. 3...
However, according to the Daily Treasury Statements published by the U.S. Treasury Department,
the ongoing flow of federal tax revenue since the Treasury declared that
it had hit the debt limit on May 16
has been more than sufficient to cover the combined costs of federal spending
on interest payments, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Veterans Affairs department
and federal workers wages and insurance benefits (including wages and insurance benefits for military personnel)."

You know, this is an interesting point, and I'm glad he made it.
It totally slipped my mind. We are at a debt limit!
We are at a debt limit, and the world is still turning.
We are at a debt limit, and every payment is being made.
The world did not come to an end and country didn't, either.
"Specifically, according to the Daily Treasury Statements, as of the close of business on May 16,
the federal government had taken in $1.333454 trillion in tax revenues since the beginning of fiscal 2011,"
which is October 1.
"By the close of business on July 7, tax revenues for fiscal 2011 had grown to $1.629630 trillion.

"Therefore, between May 16,"
when we hit the debt limit,
"and July 7 the federal government took in a total of $296.176 billion in new tax revenue,"
some of it mine.
"In that same time period, total interest payments on the national debt equaled $14.632 billion."
So the income was $296 billion;
the interest payment on the national debt was $14.6 billion.
You make the payment with ease with just income and outflow, just tax revenue coming in, which comes in every week.
"Also during that same period, the federal government's combined expenditures for interest payments on the national debt,
Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Veterans Affairs department and federal workers wages and insurance benefits
equaled $270.151 billion.

"Thus, since hitting the legal limit on the federal debt on May 16,
the federal government could have spent its $296.176 billion in new tax revenues
to pay for its combined $270.151 billion in expenses for interest, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans Affairs and federal workers wages and insurance benefits
and still had $26.025 billion in additional tax revenue to spend on other government activities.
For another $2.198 billion, for example, the government could have covered all Justice Department programs between May 16 and July 7...

"For another $11.233 billion, the government could have covered all its Housing and Urban Development programs between May 16 and July 7 --
thus bringing its surplus revenue for the post-debt-limit period down to $12.594 billion.
For another $6.988 billion, the government could have covered all its Federal Highway Administration ... between May 16 and July 7..."
All these calculations
"are based on numbers reported in the U.S. Treasury Department's Daily Treasury Statements,"
government figures. The revenue is there.
There's no reason not to pay Social Security or Medicare or the interest on the debt or anything else.
We can pay our debts even beyond the debt limit.

---

"... but most of our public debt and almost all of our private debt
were from things that happened long before O got into office."

WRONG!!!!

The ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN CHIEF has wracked up more debt in two and a half years than all our presidents COMBINED from George Washington to Ronald Reagan.

Also, the word "TRILLION" wasn't even IN the political dialog BEFORE this INFERIOR Fascist Muslim.

So what lie do you want to try next, in defending " 'da Kenyan Turd" ?

[Pollster1]

I don’t like Obama, but most of our public debt and almost all of our private debt were from things that happened long before O got into office.

"Most" may be true, but it's not terribly informative. The rate of growth of our debt is NOT reassuring, and the problem is the Obama regime. I don't like Obama either, but it's not personal. It's because Obama is the source of the destruction.

[equaviator]

That’s like blaming the Korean and Vietnam wars on the Japs and the Nazis. Sure, they’re connected but at some point, you have to start dealing with these things “in the now”.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

Perhaps you didn’t get the message, but of late it is not possible to post anything on FR that does not EXPLICITLY blame Obama for all the ills in the world. Long-term analysis is only in vogue when a Republican is in the White House.

Basically it is exactly the same at the DU, except the opposite. Frankly, I think you could just take posts from the DU from 2000 - 2008 and change the words Bush to Obama and you would have pretty much FR now (of course without the overt rudeness and swearing - at least conservatives are genteel).

Intelligent debate (and intelligent Freepers) only come out when the GOP is in charge.

I may well even get flamed for this mild observation. Yawn.