Thursday, January 5, 2012

Fiscal Insanity

Our national debt is now over 15 trillion dollars. That means that every man, woman, and child in this country (either legally or illegally) is in debt to the tune of 48,000 dollars.

In spite of all the lip service Obama and Congress gives this incredible situation, spending by the Federal Government continues to increase unchecked. Remember all the grand statements about the debt ceiling deal last summer, how Obama and the Dems said that if we just go ahead and raise the limit to 15 trillion, give or take a couple hundred billion, that real debt reform and spending cuts would be enacted. He got the higher ceiling. No reform has happened.

Obama is about to formally ask Congress to once again raise the debt ceiling by another trillion or so - because we've already reached the ceiling increase agreed to last summer. Imagine that - Washington managed to put us further in debt by well over a trillion dollars in 6 months!

Current projections have us adding a trillion to the national debt EVERY YEAR from this point forward. No plan or proposal currently under evaluation will stop this.

Remember those automatic cuts that fell into place when the Super Committee failed? Over a trillion in automatic cuts, half of which come out of the Pentagon? Obama has plans for that money. He has already stated that money will be available for spending elsewhere - on his pet social programs. Those aren't cuts, they aren't payments to draw down the debt - he's just stealing it to buy more votes.

The nation's debt has exceeded its GNP. As a country, we owe more than we produce. If the country was an individual, it would meet the definition of bankrupt.

This is not sustainable. It cannot continue. There is no magic RESET button that some future President can push to make it all go away. This is a very real, serious problem, and the majority of politicians from both parties are hell bent on ignoring it. Pushing the can down the road for future generations to deal with. They don't want to address it because they are know that every cut will piss off a voting block. The few politicians who try to sound the alarm are branded right wing extremists, racists, obstructionists, Tea Party members ...


Update - Obama officially asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling by another 1.2 Trillion dollars. If Congress votes against the request, Obama has said he would veto and push it through anyway. I'm not sure how the President can veto legislation that is voted down and not sent to him for signature, but apparently He thinks His power is all encompassing ...

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