You Know What They're Worth

Just a ton of fascinating issues and articles and events and people out there right now.  I'd love to blog about 'em - but - I am extraordinarily busy with work and bridge.  Clients come first - so - blogging will suffer until things slow down.

In the meantime, we know what pictures are worth.  No time for the 10,000 words.  Yet, this picture says it all for what will happen to us if our orgy of spending what we don't have doesn't stop.

Comments

[Greg]

This page points to the silliness of this post in perfect terms.

Deficits
http://brianwoods.com/?p=781

As the author states:

"Somehow Republicans had their heads in the ground the last eight years while the country was being run into the ground. Now their heads are out and they are squawking about everything. Too bad they didn’t notice from 2000 – 2006 when they had control of Congress and could do something about it."

Here are two famous sayings, see if they ring any bit of truth with you.

"the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior"

or

"Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it "

here is a little history.

Increases in National Debt
http://www.calaborlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/deficits-by-president.jpg

[Peg]

Greg - your cute little chart stopped in 2006.

It's 2009 now.

I wonder why it stopped.

Could it be that what happened under a Democrat Congress - and under complete Democrat control - dwarfs what is happening now?

I agree that the Republicans did a poor job. Why they are now out of office. This fact does not, however, mitigate the hard fact that the Democrats are spending as no one - from any party ever - has done before.

[Greg]

You know I'd might take your theory more seriously if you could ever produce any facts or numbers behind what you write. At least the guys at Free Republic at least try to come up with some facts. But since you are unable or unwilling to do so, let me go ahead and list some facts.

Here’s a bit of a deficit recap for you, see if you can follow.

George W Bush inherited a budget surplus of $128 billion in 2001. That is a budget surplus not a deficit. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) projected a $710 billion surplus for 2009 when he came into office. But the deficit soon exploded, thanks largely to the Bush tax cuts — which accounted for 42% of the deficit. When Bush left office, he handed President Obama a projected $1.2 trillion budget deficit for this year, the largest ever. As for the debt, when President Bush took office, it was $5.73 trillion. When he left, it was $10.7 trillion. Even you can see that he double the debt by himself. Well he was not by himself, he did have a majority Republican House and Senate for 6 of his 8 years.

Now as I have already pointed out, it was the CBO that had concluded that the current administration is only responsible for a small amount of the present debt. Here is what they stated:

"About 33 percent of the swing stems from new legislation signed by Mr. Bush. That legislation, like his tax cuts and the Medicare prescription drug benefit, not only continue to cost the government but have also increased interest payments on the national debt.

Mr. Obama’s main contribution to the deficit is his extension of several Bush policies, like the Iraq war and tax cuts for households making less than $250,000. Such policies — together with the Wall Street bailout, which was signed by Mr. Bush and supported by Mr. Obama — account for 20 percent of the swing.

Here is the killer line

"About 7 percent comes from the stimulus bill that Mr. Obama signed in February. And only 3 percent comes from Mr. Obama’s agenda on health care, education, energy and other areas."

So 7% from the stimulus, and 3% from areas such as health care, and education and you act as if they are spending like crazy. As usual the facts just do not bare you out. But hey, is it not Republican philosophy that deficits don't matter?

Six Years After Cheney Said ‘Deficits Don’t Matter,’ The National Debt Hits A 50-Year High
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/10/02/cheney-deficit-debt/