If George W. Bush had doubled the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had criticized a state law that he admitted he never even read would you think that he is just an ignorant hot head?
If George W. Bush joined the country of Mexico and sued a state in the United States to force that state to continue to allow illegal immigration, would you question his patriotism and wonder whose side he was on?
If George W. Bush had put 87000 workers out of work by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling on companies that have one of the best safety records of any industry because one company had an accident would you have agreed?
If George W. Bush had used a forged document as the basis of the moratorium that would render 87000 American workers unemployed would you support him?
If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a TelePrompTer installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan’s holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , would you have said that he is clueless.
If George W. Bush would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in Texas , would you have thought he was a self important, conceited, egotistical jerk?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word “advice” would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoes as proof of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he’s a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush’s administration had Okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved.
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can’t think of anything? Me either.
Every statement in this article is factual and directly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable.
It is hard to get past the first glaring lie in the very first sentence!
I know you know better, so I can only assume you are deliberately misleading (lying) to your readers.
The National Debt is often confused with the annual deficit. Fortunately, partisan hucksters know this and use people’s ignorance to spread their lies.
The National Debt stood close to twelve trillion dollars when Obama took office.
You lie if you say the National Debt is now twenty-four trillion dollars.
As for that annual deficit?
When Bush was president, the two trillion dollars be “borrowed” from Social Security was “off book.” Obama has put these borrowings on the books, so naturally, his deficits will look bigger. It is simply a different method of accounting.
I would ask the conservatives: Since Ronny Ray Gun did actually TRIPLE the National Debt in only eight years, WHY didn’t you say anything at the time?
BTW, I Googled random paragraphs of this post, and I got an average of 85,900,000 hits. THIS is opinion I will find EVERYwhere else.
Quentin it was Clinton, not Bush that tried to fake a near balanced budget using borrowed “off budget” socials security money.
Obama beats them all. Now that weve finished creating a new $1 trillion health care entitlement program, Washington has suddenly discovered that we are facing a crisis withsurpriseentitlement programs.
No one should be shocked to learn that government spending is out of control. In fact, last year, federal spending topped 24.7 percent of gross domestic product last year, the highest peacetime percentage in U.S. history. That compares to an historical average of roughly 21 percent. Meanwhile, federal taxes have traditionally run at around 18 percent of GDP. (Currently, they are down around 16 percent as the economic downturnthough that lower percentage has predictably become fodder for those looking for any excuse to ratchet up tax rates and depress the economy further). Thus, our current budget deficits.
Even President Obama has recognized the problem. Well, sort of: after presiding over an orgy of federal spending that could even put George W. Bush to shame, he has promised to freeze discretionary, non-defense spendingnext year.
But our current budget squall is nothing compared to the tsunami to come. And the big wave has almost nothing to do with the 12 percent of the budget that Obama may or may not freeze after the next election. Our major entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are all careening toward insolvency.
Social Security faces unfunded liabilities of more than $15.8 trillion. And while that sounds like a lot of money, it is dwarfed by Medicares looming budget shortfall of between $50 and $100 trillion, depending on which accounting measure is used. Because of its funding mechanisms, Medicaid does face the same type of accounting shortfalls, but it will soon add hundreds of billions of dollars to federal, not to mention state, spending.
As the full force of entitlement programs kicks in, the federal government will consume more than 40 percent of GDP by the middle of the century. Half of that will be taken up by just those three entitlement programs. From there, it only gets worse.
Faced with this rising tide of red ink, the traditional response in Washington is that we must have the courage to raise taxes. But think about how much taxes would actually have to be raised to pay for all the government spending to come. And its not just the rich who would get soaked. In fact, if you confiscated the wealth of every person in the United States earning over $1 million per year, you would barely make a dent in our future obligations.
If we really wanted to pay for the amount of spending to come, we would have to raise both the corporate tax rate and top income tax rate from their current 35 percent to 88 percent, the current 25 percent tax rate for middle-income workers to 63 percent, and the 10 percent tax bracket for low-income workers to 25 percent.
In theory that would eliminate the deficit, but as a society we would be much poorer. After all, every dollar that government spends is a dollar that is siphoned off from American workers regardless of whether it is raised through debt or taxes. Both divert money from more efficient uses in the private sector to less-productive uses in the public sector. Both mean fewer jobs and less economic growth.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/06/the-coming-entitlement-tsunami/#ixzz0yrxeUUSD
Jack at the bottom of this pile of rediculous spending and debt is the foundation upon which it was built and it is purely a product of the modern Democrat Party. While Desperate, unprincipled, or “going along to get along” Republicans have chosen badly or relented at times, and have definitely played in the pork game, ideologically speaking Republicans would never create the welfare system, SS, medicare, medicaid, the government takeover of car companies, laws that force banks and lenders to make bad loans, or any of the other unsustainable, programs that Democrats have given us. These ideas come out of fascist, Marxist, socialist Europe. They are not the ideals of our free republic. We have strayed from the very things that made America strong and now we are reaping a terrible crop.
Did I miss something, Tina?
You said we can’t go back and blame Bush because it is in the past.
NOW it’s OK to blame Clinton?
Regardless. What you said is simply not true, Tina. You have been lied to.
Bush took approximately two trillion dollars from the SS trust fund. THAT is why SS is giving out more this year than it is taking in–far earlier than anticipated. Your boys over at FAUX News haven’t told you that. No, they are simply blaming Obama for Bush’s thievery, and leaving the ignorant ignorant.
Please explain HOW “Obama beats them all” his budget IS bigger than Bush’s, somewhat. But so is the economy.
Bush gave us the one trillion dollar Medicare Part “D” entitlement. How is that fundamentally different from Obama’s health care plan? The medicare deal was passed by reconciliation. You railed against that when Obama did it. What are your views when the Republicans do the exact same thing? Never mind, I already know–it’s OK with you!
Now Tina, if you have to give me 2,000 words of cut-and-paste to reply, please don’t bother.
I’d like like to know what YOU think; if you are even capable of thinking for yourself.
There is only one way to eliminate the debt, and I have explained it to you twice already.
“While Desperate, unprincipled, or “going along to get along” Republicans have chosen badly or relented at times, and have definitely played in the pork game . . . . . ”
Excellent point, Tina!
Does this mean you WON’T be voting for Wally?
Quentin those were Jacks comments about Clinton…but, no matter, you’re both misinformed. Big surprise, we’re talking about government!
Too bad…cut and paste is the easiest way to disseminate INFORMATION which has nothing to do with OPINION, mine or yours:
Congress has been “taking from SS” for quite awhile. Wikipedia is not always the best source but as you can see the information is sourced:
Wikipedia:
Remember the protesters complaining about SS funds used to pay for the Vietnam war?
Which is why Greenspan and Reagan took measures to try to fix the problem just as did Clinton… and it’s still a BIG problem.
BY the way here’s another opinion (since I don’t pretend to be an expert) on the deficit going forward:
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/546302/201009071908/Not-So-Stimulating.htm
BUshes prescription part D plan is the ONLY plan that is solvent and that is because it was written in such a way that it uses market forces to keep costs down.
“Your boys over at FAUX News haven’t told you that. No, they are simply blaming Obama for Bush’s thievery, and leaving the ignorant ignorant. ** Now Tina, if you have to give me 2,000 words of cut-and-paste to reply, please don’t bother. I’d like like to know what YOU think; if you are even capable of thinking for yourself.”
Gee, and you were doing relatively well. You just can’t resist being a jerk, can you?
As I said most of what you object to was written by Jack…take it up with him.
As far as what I think it’s quite simple. Our government is too big, too wasteful, and too intrusive. We are spending the country into oblivion. More and bigger programs only exacerbate the problem. Government needs to be responsibly dismantled. I don’t pretend to know the best way to go about doing that but I am willing to read the ideas of people I respect and then add my two cents worth.
“your boy” Obummer and his buds in Congress have just “redistributed wealth” and written legislation that will explode the budget and the deficit…and given time they would do even MORE!
There is absolutely NO COMPARISON to be made to any past administration of either party!!!
Quentin, Give me a better alternative! So far I haven’t seen one and I can’t manufacture one out of thin air.
Tina, I know Quentin was misinformed, but I’m curious what part did I get wrong? If it was about Clinton and his huge “off budget” spending because he borrowed from Soc. Sec., I got my info. from the internet from several sources, but who knows…there’s a lot of false facts out here.
No, Tina!
You go and FIND a better alternative!
Are you going to wait for someone to spoonfeed you, too?
Voters like you are why we are in the mess we are.
Quentin, Jack here….if you read the mainstream media for your facts you will see this false claim often repeated that President Clinton balanced the budget and Bush screwed it up. But it’s totally false and I’m not defending Bush for his budget woes, I’m just pointing out that Clinton was better at hiding his. Quentin you were getting to the truth of it when you said the feds were raiding social security, that’s absolutely true and they were labeling the borrowed money as “off budget” only it was Clinton’s administration that hit up SS and used this borrowed money as “off budget” to give the illusion of a balanced budget which is often touted by democracts as being their great achievement for fiscal responsibility. There was no such illusion attempted by Bush.
“There was never a surplus. . . there was an increase of $281 billion (deficit). Verifying this is as simple as accessing the U.S. Treasury…” from The Myth of the Clinton Surplus. by Craig Stiener
Quentin, somebody said you were wearing a chicken suit last night to the city council meeting…was that true? lol
Quentin…Jack here, you took issue with the first line of “If”. Okay, so I did some fact checking and yes, Obama doubled the national debt in one year. Source: Hertage Foundation.
The IF article isn’t my work, but I thought it was interesting and I republished it, but as the article says every fact here can be verified. You took exception to the first line and I found a credible source that said it was true.
Now what?
Quentin, Jack here one more time, I left this out of my previous post defending line one of “IF” …..U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2010), pp. 146-179, Tables S-1 through S-14…supports line one of “If”
Jack I apologize you didn’t say Clinton was the first to take SS off budget, you just said he was the one who did it…and later explained…nice job! I was pointing out that Johnson was the first to do this.
Quentin: “No, Tina! ** You go and FIND a better alternative!”
I take it back. You aren’t a jerk, jerks don’t really know better…you are instead the typical a**h**e leftist TYRANT (sorry, a “classic liberal” has some “class”…you don’t qualify). The fact that you feel the need to ORDER PEOPLE AROUND is the big tip off!
“Are you going to wait for someone to spoonfeed you, too? ** Voters like you are why we are in the mess we are.”
By my count I have offered a heck of a lot more here, of both my own opinion and information and history to back it up, than you have. You offer not much more than finger pointing and *itc*ing. You see yourself as superior and special, looking down your nose from that lofty perch of your own making. Get off it man!
Oh, I see…yes, absolutely President Johnson was the first one…thanks for clearing that up. People are fed up with politicians trying to fool us….I think the vote in November will serve notice exactly how fed up we really are!