-b-b-but it's his fault ... He started it".....a psychotic point to ponder.

[Eric Ingram]

Good morning,

 I have been reading the so-called news again...yep I know, big mistake. I have as such decided to express yet another psychotic point to ponder.

 Ponder me this:

  

  The  Washington Pravda is braying again about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this nonsense. So once more, for the folks who didn't pay attention in school, a short civics lesson.  Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that has controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party.

  Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009 as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets. And where was Barack Obama during this time? Why, he was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009. Wow, I could have had a V8! Let's remember what the deficits actually looked like during that period:    (see below)

 

 

  If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. That same budget included the "two unfunded wars" that the Democrats in Washingtoon and elsewhere keep braying about being the source of all the deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the deficit increasing continuing resolutions. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell,  what Obama is actually saying is; "I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I demanded congress expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th, 2009, but it is STILL all George Bush's fault, boo-hoo".

  
  Unfortunately, there is no way this will ever be widely publicized. The media outlets are in the tank for Obama and always have been. If he fails as a president, they will stand to lose more credibility than they did during the Clinton and Carter years combined. This also completely refutes the conventional liberal orthodoxy of Keynesian economic theory and stands it upside-down. Already the cries from the left are "if we would only have spent more it would have worked..." or "well the recovery is slower than I would like, but it would have been so much worse if I had not acted as I did". Ponder me this... jobs numbers for the last three months have been pathetic. Unemployment is still over 9% in most places and well over 10% in others. In net effect, the federal government has spent over  $400,000.00 for every job this administration "claims" to have "created or saved".

 

  Here is the cold harsh light of day folks, last month according to the bureau of labor statistics, over 80% of the new jobs were "created" by McDonalds and other fast food chains. During this same time period, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was engaged in litigating the halt of Boeing's plans to open a manufacturing facility in South Carolina which would create hundreds of high paying skilled jobs in one of the largest export markets we have left..aviation! As a matter of fact, Boeing is dollar for dollar the largest exporter in our economy. Government job creation...how's that work exactly? In the 1980s,  Secretary of Labor Donald Regan said after a state of the union address "We are not going to build a strong economy by delivering pizzas to each other". It was true then, and it is true now. Unfortunately, we aren't going to build a strong economy by serving gut grenades to each other through a window either.

 

  In an opinion piece posing as journalism, on CNN, after the State of the Union Address, David Gergen trumpeted the left's call for more "investment". Mr. Gergen's contention was that "we are shedding jobs and not producing enough hard math and sciences candidates for new jobs". Like the proverbial blind squirrel, he has found his acorn. Although he didn't say so explicitly, he tap-danced around the notion that we're not really good at anything anymore except engaging in high-tech warfare for low-tech purposes. So let's see, according to Mr. Gergen, carpet bombing some third world mud hole that is already difficult to distinguish from rubble back into the stone age is our sole claim to fame. This is pretty typical of the left's assertion that this nation is consistently run by a bunch of neo-colonial baby killing warmongers. Unfortunately, if some things don't change pretty drastically within the next few years, that won't be far from the truth.

 

  Here's an idea, rather than spending more than any other nation on the face of the planet per student on education, how about we insist that in exchange for our "investment" our children are taught basic academic skills like language and mathematics rather than engaging in activities which are intended primarily to politically and socially indoctrinate them. "The Story of Stuff", really, couldn't we have found something more productive to do with that time? (if you don't know about this film, Google it, it is pure propaganda!) Rather than shipping 30% or more of our Gross National Product (GNP) each and every year overseas to countries which hate our guts to buy fuel, why not produce our own? No new refineries in thirty plus years? really? don't you think it might be about time?

  Rather than hobbling high growth industries with burdensome overregulation, why not deregulate? And lest someone bray about those "evil rich dudes", no Virginia, the housing bust was not caused by greedy bankers, and Wall Street speculators. It was caused by the sub-prime mortgage market which was specifically created and driven by the Federal government. Think Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and the Community Reinvestment Act both 1 and 2 under Carter and Clinton. Both of whom were very liberal Democratic presidents. Nope! all of this would make entirely too much sense to the powers that be. According to them we need more....um let's see, bread and circuses didn't work last time...hmm...let's try...Vodka and Tacos...yeah, Vodka and Tacos that's the ticket!

 

  Pardon me if I cringe in horror and disbelief whilst reading the paper. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. To paraphrase conventional wisdom; "when you throw a rock across the fence line into a pack of dogs, the one you hit generally hollers"...Then again, like most hillbillies, I guess I really prefer a sling shot...
'Nuff said

[Eric Ingram]

Hi J.L.,

Yep, those figures look pretty solid to me. This just goes to prove that you can always steal more with a briefcase, pen, legal pad, and a lawyer, than you will ever manage to take with a gun...

'Nuff said

[JL Gawlik]

Here is some more facts to add: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/02/12/true-cost-of-stimulus-327-trill...

 

TRUE cost of the 2009 Stimulus $3.27 TRILLION... 

[JL Gawlik]

Interesting to note, our country has been running without a budget for over 780 days. Senator Harry Reid has refused to pass a budget this year. I think it is worst than tacos and vodka... hey did you hear?

Nancy Pelosi's personal wealth shot up 62% from last year... guess she is tickled to death they did not pass a increase on capital gains or the increase taxes on the wealthy in the four years she was speaker of the House and her party held control of Congress. Sounds like a conspiracy? 

Eric, pass me the vodka

[Eric Ingram]

Correction, the figures cited above do not include the TARP. the actual expenditures for 08 should be adjusted by 334 billion (the amount of the tarp which was actually disbursed prior to January 1, 2008. This steepens the curve as it almost doubles the deficit figures for 08. That being said, It does not change the point, or my perspective. My apologies for the discrepancy in the graph.

[Eric Ingram]

No Amanda, the numbers I cited on the left side of the chart (00-08) are the actual expenditures as reported by the CBO. Not what was requested or budgeted. The actual expenditures. I stand by my comments. As far as the drug bill is concerned, I thought it was a mess then and now. At best it is the lesser of two evils. Obamacare is much worse. Both are unfunded entitlement programs which are totally unsustainable. Like I said, Vodka and Tacos...

[amanda choate]

But not everything was budgeted, like the both wars and the drug bill. That is why they do not show up in your numbers. They were just left out the budget. Nor were FEMA expenditures ever budgeted.      Put that on my card said our leaders.