The American Spectator : Who Will Bail Out America?

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Who Will Bail Out America?

By Peter Ferrara on 5.12.10 @ 6:09AM

President Obama's Grecian formula certainly won't.

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In diametrically opposing contrast, instead of ending a historic, raging inflation, like Reagan, President Obama is creating one.

Indeed, everything critical to the American economy of today is the reverse of what it was during the economic boom starting in 1983-1984, reflecting that President Obama's policies are the opposite of Reagan's. Interest rates were heading sharply lower back then from historic highs, with the prime rate peaking at 21% in 1980. Today, as the Wall Street Journal commented on May 1, "[T]he Fed has held short-term interest rates at close to zero for 16 months. The only question is how soon and how high rates will rise."

Moreover, the 1983-1984 recovery was launched just as the Reagan marginal tax rate cuts became fully effective. But today we are set for historic tax rate increases to kick in next year. While the Tax Foundation reports that the top 1% of income earners already pay more in federal income taxes than the bottom 95%, President Obama says their taxes should be raised even more so they can pay their "fair share." So next year, capital gains tax rates will soar by close to 60%, tax rates on dividends by roughly 200%, and the top income tax rate by close to 30%.

In addition, as the 1983-1984 recovery launched, "an era of deregulation was lowering costs across most industries," as the Journal also commented, whereas today, "Washington is raising costs for business by expanding its regulatory reach via tougher antitrust enforcement, mandates on health care and energy, more political limits on telecom investment, restrictions on bank lending, and much more."

What this means is that instead of sustained recovery, what we are heading for is Art Laffer's Coming Crash of 2011. President Obama's economy is at its peak performance right now, however stunted that is.

President Obama's Grecian Formula

For 2009, Greece's budget deficit came in at 13.6% of GDP, and its national debt grew to 115% of GDP. President Obama has America on this exact same track. Our budget deficit for this year is nearly 11% of GDP. By 2020, according to the CBO, America's net national debt held by the public would be 90% of GDP. Total gross federal debt, which includes such items as the debt held in the Social Security trust funds (real debt that will have to be paid in the future), would be 122% of GDP.

But it's even worse than that. For the top 1% will get their revenge for President Obama's tax piracy. Instead of raising revenues through his top income tax rate increases, he will be lucky if revenues do not decline. For capital gains alone, every tax rate increase over the last 40 years has produced less revenue rather than more. President Obama's class warriors also do not understand that dividend payments will collapse next year as a result of their tax increases, and so will revenues from taxes on those dividends.

Lower than expected revenues, even if they do not absolutely decline, will mean still higher deficits and debt. Even more so as net interest spending increases as a result. If interest rates rise more than the modest increases President Obama's budget projects, even more likely with the growing world debt burden, then the vicious death spiral takes another tumble downward.

If the economy turns downward in 2011 rather than upward, then all of this will explode out of control right there. America will also be effectively defenseless at that point, for we will not be able to borrow the still greater funds that would be necessary for any protracted conflict. (Is that what the ultraliberal President Obama and George Soros planned all along to get America "under control," so to speak?). That condition of vulnerability, of course, again just the opposite of President Reagan's peace through strength, invites war.

If the totally irresponsible new Obamacare entitlements end up costing more than planned when they start in 2014, as is likely, the phrase "adding fuel to the fire" seems inadequate. How about firebombing the fire?

And we haven't even factored in renewed inflation yet. The EU bailout only encourages weak monetary policies from the European Central Bank, and further extended lax policies by the Fed. If this finally leads to inflation, as it did in the 1970s, the Fed would be faced with either raising interest rates, contributing to extended economic weakness and downturn, or letting inflation roar, until it returns to 1970s levels, or worse.

Maybe that is why the price of gold is already higher than the S&P 500. The truth is we are on the path to a worldwide flight from increasingly irresponsible fiat currencies. This is well beyond the issue of a declining or even collapsing dollar.

Even the shortsighted stock market, which usually looks only about 6 months ahead, is signaling trouble. For all the talk of a booming stock market recovery over the last year, it has never returned near to its peak over 14,000. It is stuck hovering about 25% below that peak. With the above economic prospects, there is no longer enough upside in trying to game the stock market to milk any remaining short-term gains.

Rest assured that when the credit markets tell America "No Mas" to record-shattering borrowing, there will be no one to bail out the USA. No one is big enough to even try it. Rather, the vultures will circle.

The only possible bailout will come on Election Day, 2010. Unless the American people send a message that rocks Washington like never before, 2012 may well be too late.

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About the Author

Peter Ferrara is Senior Fellow at the Carleson Center for Public Policy, Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy for the Heartland Institute, and General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under the first President Bush. He is the author of America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, now available from HarperCollins.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (138) | Leave a comment

Brian Mc| 5.12.10 @ 7:09AM

All the way through this article I found myself considering a simple dictum, especially after the mention of the top 1% paying more than the bottom 95%...to which, of course, some would argue that the top 1% are still paying in too little.

What part of "Thou shalt not covet thy neigbor's goods" do you fail to comprehend?

If we fail to gain equilibrium as far as the mindset goes, of those who refuse to answer for their listlessness when it comes to their level of productivity while here on the earth, we will fail as a Nation. And yet still, our leaders in government continue to beat down those who have an eye on the reward for hard work and creativity...while the teeming throngs cheer them on. It is mind-numbing.

old white guy| 5.12.10 @ 11:06AM

the sad thing is that if the government could take everything the top 20% have it still would not run the u.s. government for six months. the topm 20% would then be broke and paying zero taxes like the bottom 50%.

pugsley| 5.12.10 @ 11:46AM

OWG-this is not about taking, it is about breaking, as in breaking the country once and for all. These rats are about the business of taking this country down and rebuilding it into their socialist utopia. They are well aware this country cannot be taken by force (too many citizens with guns) but it sure can if everything breaks down and everyone is hungry, cold and miserable. Get everyone on their knees and changes are not quite so hard to sell to the people. I look for the final push to come in the dead of winter or the late part of fall just as the cold weather starts to set in. The picture of grandma freezing to death will be more than enough of a push for most folks.

Cosmic Armadillo| 5.12.10 @ 2:22PM

Have a personal plan B or live next to a Mormon neighbor (they store a years worth of food in their basement). This debt binge is going to end badly.

JmsA| 5.14.10 @ 1:54PM

They don't buy into your premise given that they conveniently don't believe in God, other than for Green Mother Earth, and thus covet their neighbor's goods for themselves or to distribute to those who in turn will give them power.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.12.10 @ 7:51AM

Things are trending towards a rather calamitous conclusion. Perhaps we shall go the way of the Weimar Republic.

Ret. Marine| 5.12.10 @ 7:59AM

Dear leader has about as much say over this economy as do his idiots ( current CONgress critters and the senile bunch) in charge. Neither have a clue as to the hurt it will inflict to the average middle class person, or maybe they do by design. what will the response be from the bottom of the ladder folks when there is no one to pay their house payments, cars, their health care needs, their security? Oh I know, it's Bush's fault right!
There will be no one to bail-out these United States, so why the question? You are preaching to the choir Mr. Ferrara. I think you will find these interesting but known facts have not gone unnoticed by those of us who visit this site and many others pertaining to our way of life being systematically destroyed on a daily basis. I believe the more relevant question should be something like this, are you better off today than you were under Bush? if not what are you going to do about it? A resounding hell no is to be expected of course but, don't rely upon this fool and his court of fellow idiots to determine the best way out of the mess they have created, in fact I have long believed this was the plan all along. So much for the great uniter hey?
Those of us who have payed attention, and still are, have made preperations both to our financial and mental preparedness needed to overcome will know what to do this coming election cycle. I have to believe there are approx. 12-15 million veterans who swore an oath to Protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic will know how to handle the controlled decline of our way of life. And I would bet if the elections don't get the desired results, open and fair ( even with the expected fraud the dem's and their victims will ensue) this admin and court idiots WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for criminal behaviour and their treason. There is no way anyone with an ounce of intelliegnce can get away from the fact that these people, i.e. demonrat/progressive/marxist/socialist/communist types are going to succeed in their attempt to run roughshod over the Patriots and legal citizens of this Nation. We the People are not "stupid" as the dear leader and unifer seems to believe. Everyday, We the People are suffering for their stupidness, the dear leader and his court, one day soon their piper will have to be paid. Paid for in hard sweat, tears and bloodshed if necessary but it will be paid. Million's of us know this and are willing to get to the problem, and those who created it, with equal and just resolve. The think their sheeples are there to cover their sixes but they fail to understand they are outnumbered by almost 8-1. If you think the MAY-day riots and destruction has gone unnoticed you would be mistaken. Their numbers will not even compare to the numbers that will have resolve on their minds. God save our Republic.

George F| 5.12.10 @ 1:20PM

Let's not underestimate this administration. They understand exactly what they're doing. It is their intention to continue lying to the American people while they pass the bad bills that will take the country down a few notches, like the TARP bills, the so called incentive spending bills and the extremely horrible healthcare bill that will destroy the best healthcare system in the world; more spending in the last two years than in all other administrations combined.

They're totally dishonest and have convinced themselves that lying creates a new reality because the public is stupid enough to believe the lies and truth will come to mean nothing.

Whatever| 5.13.10 @ 1:27PM

"destroy the best healthcare system in the world; " Lol.. you are serious?

JmsA| 5.14.10 @ 1:58PM

Whatever,

Are you serious? The question best applies to you. Last time I checked not only Canadians, but those from many other countries seek treatment here in the U.S. While Americans, save for those who seek far-fetched alternative cures for incurable ailments seek care elsewhere. Wake up and smell the coffee! Someone's sold you a bill of goods.

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 3:35PM

Bush's administration gets to take the credit for TARP.

And "the best healthcare system in the world"? No. I went to the doctor a few months ago. I saw a nurse who said I wasn't sick enough yet and that I should come back in a week if I wasn't feeling better. I just got a $200 bill for that visit.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 3:40PM

And O'Bama pushed for and voted for TARP.
He is just as responsible.

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 3:55PM

And McCain would have too if he were voted in. Don't you see? The president is a puppet that is meant to distract you.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 4:01PM

Lauren,

I'm no fan of McLame. Neither are many here at TAS.

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 4:34PM

Doesn't comport with the "republican all the way" mentality of most of the commentators. but ok.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 5:08PM

Lauren,

You must be new here. Try reading some more, before you make blanket statements like that.

JmsA| 5.14.10 @ 2:04PM

The true sign of a leftist ignoramus: anecdotal overgeneralization. Find another doctor, it seems you consulted a quack. Make sure next time you check for pictures on the wall of the quack posing with liberals. I know this for a fact, I used to work for one that had about ten pictures of himself and Hillary Clinton (from fundrising events) hanging all over his office walls. By the way, he was indicted for billing fraud. And guess what, Obamacare was not even around when he got caught.

steveabrams| 5.12.10 @ 8:05AM

We are now seeing. with our very own eyes, the long-anticipated destruction of the West. We are daily loosing the generations who know Western values. They are being replaced by aimless kids, who value tattoos and iPods over hardwork and personal-accountability. They deserve free college and a new car. They "feel," therefore, they "are." Never mind logic and reason.

America needs us bitter clingers now, more than ever.

Lauren | 5.13.10 @ 3:37PM

There is no one to blame but ourselves.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 5.12.10 @ 8:06AM

The stock market has been stuck in a rut since 1999. The real return on your investments even if you are at the same level is a loss of greater then 20%. In that sense the stock market has been sending the proper signal but few listen. It's telling you clearly that there is too much government spending, too much government regulations and too much anticipated spending and little in the way of actual growth.

Growth now is defined as slimming down. The usual catch up point for that is seven years. The slimming down started in 2004 so 2011 may indeed be a watershed moment in terms of economic misery.

Ironically, that is all socialism is, shared misery.

Over the last 10 years the dollar has lost 25% of it's purchasing power. That means a real DOW equivalent would be around 7,500.

Also, don't forget that during this same period the DOW has seen huge volatility. Allegedly, those were buying opportunities but what do you do when you hit DOW 10,000 again?

The investor class appears to be the determined to invest even though the handwriting has been on the wall for over 10 years.

The DOW has nowhere to go now but down and down it will go. The investor class may not be bright when it comes to stocks but sooner or later they will realize they are losing their wealth and move on.

Ned| 5.12.10 @ 8:07AM

I have posted this before and I still find it applicable in spite of the last failed attacks we have avoided by either luck or lack of skill of the duds attacking us. Maybe the better qualified terrorist loons really are smart enough to wait and see what our own destructive leaders can accomplish then perhaps they will bounce the rubble as many like to say.

It dawned on me the other day that we are probably safer from terrorist attacks now than we have been at any time in our past.
Any terrorist organization worth its salt would have the sense to just stand down and wait to see what is left over when our current bunch of leaders are done with their hope and change jihad.
They (terrorists) with their silly little bombs, death, and destruction are no match for the country destroying fools we now have in charge.
President Obama is possibly the most ravaging bomb Bill Ayers ever had a part in planting.
It is our duty to defuse this explosion of overcooked fruit cakes by voting them all out of office at the first opportunity.

Margie| 5.12.10 @ 11:48AM

Yep. Voting the overcooked fruitcakes out of office at the first opportunity. And that means voting Republican straight ticket all the way. Whether they are 100% perfect or not. I say this much to the horror of the holier-than-thou amongst us, of which I am not one.

I realize the seriousness of the matter and that our country is at stake. If we want pure conservatives, well, there are none! But there are plenty of good enough conservative Republican candidates to get behind now, and vote for them in this November's elections. We just need to get out there, and vote!

Tim*| 5.12.10 @ 4:41PM

We,Tea Party Rebels are " Primarying " The Republican Primaries to get Real Conservatives into The General Election .

The Tea Party Escalates.

It was Tea Party Rebels who helped lead the charge , to chase Bennett , Specter and Crist out of the Republican Primaries .

But We won't sell Our conservative Souls to The Republican Party. They failed Conservatives too many times.

Ned| 5.12.10 @ 7:19PM

"And that means voting Republican straight ticket all the way."

I agree, but some of them need a little "tea-boarding" first.

JUDE| 5.15.10 @ 8:48AM

You speak in generalities all the while saying nothing.

Please get off these forums.

Louis Jenkins| 5.12.10 @ 8:12AM

Yes, God save our Republic. God save our Republic when the Pretender n Chief handed the money over to the IMF. God save our Republic when unemployment rates have went up. God save our Republic when the Depression keeps on giving. God save our Republic when the Pretender n Chief launches new taxes. Bottom line: we are going to have to save this Republic ourselves.

Margie| 5.12.10 @ 11:57AM

Yes Louis, we'll save it ourselves, by the Grace of God.

SlackerKeith| 5.13.10 @ 12:47PM

Should have known ... I clicked on the article, and the first thing that greeted me was Michelle Malkin's smiling face. You people act as if the IMF was Obama's creation. The IMF has been used for decades - by both republicans and democrats - as a way to dictate to developing nations what they can and cannot do. If you don't do things our way, you don't get the needed capital to develop. Never heard any complaints when IMF or World Bank funds went to Republican pet projects.

Ret. Marine| 5.15.10 @ 6:49PM

Yeah I have no problem with that, by any means and I mean any. If they want blood-shed, they'll get it from me, if they want to play nice I'll do the same, but, if they think they are going to steal away our liberties, well lets just say over my dead body.

Howard| 5.12.10 @ 8:37AM

I believe from the get go, Obama purposely chose high deficits to insure higher taxes. While he loves big government, he also is a redistributionist at heart. Thus he gets the best of (his) both worlds.
However, I think the Greek crisis will fundamentally change in short order the ability of Obama and his cohorts to continue on their path. And I'm not talking about the November elections. Those elections hopefully will bring forth the end of his legislative allies. But, I believe newly energized bond markets, and financial requirements will soon force a day of reckoning. This will fully repudiate Obama's blind belief in Keynesian solutions, and start the process of reversing the growth in government.

Deborah D| 5.12.10 @ 9:03AM

America will have to bailout itself. Once we dump those in Congress who are betraying the country and its people, its people will get to work to turn this piece of crap Obama and company have turned our country into -- back toward the shining city. Learn a lesson, Obama voters, never allow these progressive/communist/liberal/America haters to hold the reins of power again. Our future is Greece (or California or Detroit -- samey same) if we don't take charge while (if) there's still time. These people are not producers they are destroyers, and isn't that obvious?

Purpleguy| 5.12.10 @ 1:37PM

Raise taxes to pay off the debt.... Stop borrowing ... institute the VAT ... problem solved in 15 years.

Howard| 5.12.10 @ 2:47PM

While I disagree in principle on your prescription for a financial cure, especially a VAT. I believe even initiating your program will only result in a temporary fix. The reason; Congress will spend all taxes received, and then more. The VAT taxes can initially start out at a level sufficient to plug the deficit. However, the easiest thing in the world is to raise this tax, due to whatever "emergency" or "temporary need" is divined. I believe we need a constitutional amendment which limits both taxes and spending at some percentage. I realize this is awkward, but, Congress left to its own devices will always spend.

Curtis Rasmussen| 5.12.10 @ 3:53PM

Hypocrite, the VAT is regressive, disproportionately hurting the poor. You show your true colors, falsely championing for the downtrodden to selfishly gain at other's expense.

Nick| 5.12.10 @ 4:24PM

Pay no attention to PurpleJackass folks.

He doesn't even know that Virginia governors don't run for re-election because they can only serve one term, then have to wait 4 years to run again.

He also likes to berate others for spelling "hypocrisy" wrong, and in the same post he wrote "hypocrit", like a moron.

He is not worthy of debate with grown-ups.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 12:15AM

PurpleJackass also thinks President Bush was in office for TEN months when the attacks of September 11th, 2001, occured.

He is a moron.

SlackerKeith| 5.13.10 @ 12:59PM

Nick, you are so correct. It was NINE months, not TEN months. So, Bush only ignored warnings for nine months prior to the attacks.

I am literally spitting coffee out my nose reading these comments.

Why do I never hear anything from conservatives bashing the deregulation that started with Reagan and continued with Bush 41, Clinton and Bush 43? That lack of regulation - or what y'all might call "big government" - has blown up in our faces in the last 2 years. The financial meltdown was without question the result of unregulated financial activities, particularly in the derivatives market. And, lest we forget, there is still an offshore oil rig dumping oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Both of these disasters will occur again, since there is, for some reason, resistance to regulate the derivatives market, as well as resistance to deter in any way our offshore drilling. I cannot fathom the depths of your collective stupidity. I fear for our future - not because of "big government", but because of the seeming refusal of the majority of Americans to use basic critical thinking skills.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 3:44PM

SlackerKeith,

You are as bad at simple math as is PurpleJackass!

President Bush was in office for SEVEN AND A HALF months when the attacks of September 11th, 2001, occured, Einstein.

Tim*| 5.12.10 @ 4:58PM

Try & sell that VAT to American Voters Mr.Purplely !

Ya ever been tarred & feathered before ?

JmsA| 5.12.10 @ 5:58PM

Notice what's missing? Not a peep about cutting back on spending and expanding the government. Spoken like a classical leftist, statist moron. How's that VAT working out in Europe, genius?

Stan Redmond| 5.13.10 @ 10:55AM

Eliminate ALL income taxes, corporate taxes and cap gains and institute a consumption tax. Leave local and state taxes to their own devices so liberals can have their utopias like Michigan and California.

Just wait and see how fast tax and spend pols get thrown out of office when EVERYONE pays visible taxes in this country. And the rest, as they say "will take care of itself."

Lullaby's, Legends and Lies| 5.12.10 @ 9:04AM

Maybe General Motors can bail us out!! Their current CEO is so smart, that he was able to pay back his Company's "bailout" loan five years ahead of schedule "with interest" (and he didn't even laugh when he said that). So if he can pay back a huge multi-Billion dollar "loan" like that, even though his Company that hasn't made a "real" profit in many years, imagine what he could do with the American Taxpayer's money (especially that 1% of the Taxpayer's money that pays more than the other 95% do, or as I like to call them, suckers!!). We'll be "Back in Black" before the 2012 Presidential Election, and then everything will be rainbows and friggin' unicorns again!! And then we can keep President Obama around for another four years, oh joy!! Sorry for the sarcasm today, but I just finished a ruck march this morning, and my back is killing me!!

Ret. Marine| 5.13.10 @ 5:10AM

hang in there trooper, this thing is going to be turned around one way or the other. Personnaly I'm hoping for the other, there are a many of lib/trash that need their arse handed back to them in one flash.

Jim O'Brien| 5.12.10 @ 9:10AM

The solution is to cut a trillion or so from government spending, while at the same time significantly cutting taxes. Obama's agenda is exactly the opposite. Perhaps he looks forward to hyper-inflation with an eye to what happened in Germany just prior to Hitler's rise to power.

Purpleguy| 5.12.10 @ 1:05PM

You pay less in tax now than anytime over the last 60 years. Even less than Reagan's time or Bush. What are you complaining about, why taxes?

1FreeMan| 5.12.10 @ 1:31PM

Another stupid socialist lie by the purple idiot.
The threshold for loosing your deductions has been greatly reduced and many Americans are paying more than ever. Taxes have gone up for those of us WHO WORK.

Are you purple because you hold your breath when your Mommie tells you to go back to the basement?
Beat it, Troll.

Purpleguy| 5.12.10 @ 1:43PM

There you go again... ignoring those pesky little facts that burst your dittohead bubble.

http://consumerist.com/2010/05.....years.html
"Federal, state and local taxes — including income, property, sales and other taxes — consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8.% of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010."

...This tax drop has boosted consumer spending and the economy, which grew at a 3.2% annual rate in the first quarter. It also has contributed to the federal debt growing to $8.4 trillion.

Oops, I guess your version of the truth is the LIE, now isn't it, Genius? Go learn something before you come to the table little one.

Eric Cartman| 5.12.10 @ 3:02PM

Little one? LOL That's rich, Purplehead. Still home? Pruplehead was busted for getting mad at his coworkers: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/a.....1tsa1.html

Learn how to read economic data, dumbass. Income taxes are lowest. Wonder why? As a % of GDP, taxes are expected to increase to historic highs: http://www.heritage.org/budget.....-receipts#

Nick| 5.12.10 @ 6:42PM

Poor Rolando PurpleJackass!

His TSA co-workers teased him so much, he reacted with violence and had to be arrested.

Hope you didn't drop the soap!

JmsA| 5.12.10 @ 6:31PM

Purpleturd, your ignorance or mendacity, take your pick, is showing. The reason taxes are as low as they are now is because of the Bush tax cuts which will expire next year. The One, though no one here would expect you to admit it--had nothing to do with lower taxes.

Rmm| 5.12.10 @ 9:12AM

The anointed One continues to do what he does best, give lip service to problems we face, while the picture becomes more bleak.
As Mr. Ferrara notes, this recession is setting records for longevity and the unemployment numbers are murderous. This is looking more and more like the 'plan' this bunch has cooked up . Nothing O has done suggests the growing of our economy and putting people back to work.

Tony in Central PA| 5.12.10 @ 9:23AM

As I've said before, America no longer needs conservatives, it needs revolutionairies. Its hard to be optimistic when we now have a ruling elite and a distracted electorate so disconnected from the realities of economics that they don't appear to perceive our debt crisis or have the slightest idea of how to address it even if they did. The default answer for every problem of enlarging government and raising taxes will soon prove impossible. Then what ?

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 5.12.10 @ 10:11AM

Mr. Ferrara, in the section of this essay you titled “Obama's Grecian Formula”, you correctly pointed out that by “2020, according to the CBO, America's net national debt held by the public would be 90% of GDP.” However, I’d like to point out that as of about 8:45 this morning, numbers available at National Debt Clock (live) http://www.usdebtclock.org indicate that this ratio currently stands at about 90.13%. Using numbers I have been monitoring for many moons from this website, I have calculated that we are on track to hit Debt to GDP parity (100%) next February. This calculation does not yet include all the damage to the economy that we can optimistically anticipate once cap and trade is enacted, the full destruction of the Eurozone meltdown buries us and the healthcare debacle shackles us forever. Nor do you point out, unless I missed it, that much of the alleged recovery of OUR economy is due to gum’mint intervention - they are using digital money to prop it up on twigs. I no longer hold out any hope that OUR Country is salvageable. The kommies are too deeply entrenched and in control to relinquish their tyranny without bloody struggle. Once that step is taken, the United States of America will be dead. Yes, a phoenix will arise from its ashes, but it’s 2-1 against at best whether or not it will be a clone of the Third Reich, a Chinese province or a reincarnated democratic republic dedicated to the ideals of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States.
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Now is the time for all to go Galt!

Melvin| 5.12.10 @ 10:16AM

I'm sick and tired of bailing out our banks and now I'm sick and damn tired of bailing out European banks.
Banks have become too large and too powerful. The IMf and the Federal Reserve are the ones who now run our Country.
No longer are we a people governed by the Rule of Law, but a people subjugated by the rule of men from a boardroom.
I and many millions of my brethren are coming close to the point of exploding and when we do, we will exact a terrible revenge upon those who have placed us and the generations of Americans of whom are not borne yet under this terrible bondage.
So keep pushing us Bernanke, and Strauss-Kahn judgment day will soon be upon thee for all the terrible schemes you've heaped upon us.

Houston Rao| 5.12.10 @ 12:06PM

In the interest of the public good, to maintain social order and justice and to provide for the common welfare, the History Czar today mandated some changes to the Gettysburg address, which will henceforth end as follows:

"that this nation, under Obama, shall have a new birth, and this government, of the corrupt, by the moochers and for the looters, shall not perish from this earth".

Anyone in possession of any copies of earlier versions shall be subject to a penalty of 5% of their annual household income unless their income consists of more than 80% in tax credits and welfare payments. An additional surcharge of 42% will be assessed on those making more than above $25000 unless the Pay Czar determines that such income was rightfully earned and may not be begrudged. All government officials, elected and otherwise, shall be exempt from this penalty provided they promise to destroy their copies within a reasonable period of time.

Ret. Marine| 5.13.10 @ 5:17AM

Hey try to understand something here, for your blood pressure, this Country, mainly the so-called wall st. bunch sold a rather large bunch of worthless securities to the entire world. What does this tell you. It tell's me they are hat in hand because obummer and his cabal are responsible to the collaspe of the world markets. Comments?

Shamus| 5.12.10 @ 10:43AM

The US was bankrupt after the Civil War and the Revolutionary War and soon will be again.

Purpleguy| 5.12.10 @ 1:00PM

And, yet, we're still here ... hmmm

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 5.12.10 @ 1:29PM

The preceding reply to Shamus reminds me of the tale about the honeymooner on a cruise who fell overboard in the South Pacific. He was quickly surrounded by a school of ravenous Great White Sharks. Optimistically, he hollered to his new bride anxiously watching from the ship’s deck, “Don’t worry, Honey! It’s not lunch time yet ...”
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Now is the time for all to go Galt!
Only 984 days to go.

Purpleguy| 5.12.10 @ 1:50PM

You may all be in denial, but obviously something must change. We pay less tax now then anytime in the last 50 years.

You won't like it, but we need to:

Raise taxes to pay off the debt.... Stop borrowing ... institute the VAT ... Close tax loopholes ... problem solved in 15 years.

Gill O’Teen ✝✡| 5.12.10 @ 3:08PM

Raising taxes will only discourage spending and investment. The VAT is the worst tax of all since it increases the cost of any good at every step of its production. As the cost of an item goes up, there is a corresponding decline in demand for it which leads to a drop in production and a loss of jobs. Because of its hidden nature, it’s easy for politicians to sneak rate increases onto the already onerous tax burden citizens must endure. Keep in mind that the imploding economies in Europe have implemented VATs and yet are still in collapse. Maybe your taxes have gone down, but mine haven’t. Last month, I wrote one of the largest Federal Income Tax checks I ever have, yet my income situation is virtually unchanged, and while my property tax rate remained level, my assessed valuation increased. Even though that is supposedly a revenue neutral impost, it’s not, so I had to pay more tax on my house. Sales tax at the local mall has increased. Then there is inflation. Ignore the gum’mint’s official numbers because those are politically motivated. I use the CRB Index numbers available at http://www.crbtrader.com/crbindex/data.asp. These numbers are not yet available for today but last night the CCI was $472.13, a $70.46 increase from a year ago. That’s a 17.54% in a year. That’s a hidden tax. And in typical liberal fashion, your proposal for balancing the budget, besides destroying the economy, fails to address out of control gum’mint spending. This social justice redistribution of wealth garbage is completely out of control. The Greeks have only not run out of other people’s money yet because other nations, including ours, have provided them more money to waste. Ever tried to fill a black hole?
Gill O’Teen ✝✡
gill.Oteen07041776@gmail.com
Now is the time for all to go Galt!
Only 984 days to go.

Nick| 5.12.10 @ 3:14PM

"We pay less tax now then anytime in the last 50 years."

Yes, thanks to President Bush's tax cuts!

President Dither is going to let them expire next year, causing the largest tax increase in history, PurpleJackass.

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 4:00PM

Bush's tax cuts + Bush's spending increases = the crazy freaking deficit we now have.

Just wanted to help you pencil that one out.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 4:13PM

Lauren,

President Dither has been in office for a year and four months, now. The trillion dollar deficit is all his.

What is it like living in Fantasyland, Lauren?

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 4:37PM

You are saying there was NO deficit before Obama was inaugurated...wait I'll even give you a few more months...elected?

If I live in Fantasyland then you must be the mayor.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 5:05PM

Lauren,

Show me where I wrote there was "NO deficit before Obama was inaugurated [...]."

President Bush had deficits, of course. But, no where near a TRILLION dollars. His highest, I believe, was somewhere around $450-500 billion.

1FreeMan| 5.12.10 @ 1:33PM

... so what thje purple idiot is suggestiong is it is not only OK but completely normal and survivable to drive the nation into bankruptcy to pay for his ignorant socialist plan.

Purple guy is SUCH and idiot.

Purpleguy| 5.12.10 @ 1:51PM

Once again, you ignore facts and make it up as you go. I said nothing of the sort. See my earlier solution to the problem... You won't like it, but for a mental midget, you probably won't understand it, either

Indiana Alex| 5.12.10 @ 4:04PM

This is only because of the number of workers paying zero or negative taxes (refundable tax credits).

As many before have noted, though you find tought to grasp, those of use that work for a living are paying well over that figure in income taxes, then add payroll taxes and everything else, and there are only a few times in history that we have been taxed more.

JimE| 5.12.10 @ 11:47PM

Purpletard,
You offered no solution, go back to telemarketing gay sex aids.

Stan Redmond| 5.13.10 @ 11:14AM

We have to pay more taxes and the government only has to stop borrowing? Wow, what a deal...for the government. Maybe it passed you by but this president has spent more money in his short term then the total federal budgets since independence. We pesky taxpayers (and I'm in the 1% that pays A LOT) get to pick up the tab for an insatiable government that has spend TRILLIONS for unions and socialist programs and that is fair?

Tim*| 5.12.10 @ 4:45PM

Aaaand , so is Haiti , Purplepimple ,but many Americans wouldn't wanna live there.

Next point , thank you !

Briguy| 5.13.10 @ 3:17PM

This is not a logical comparison to our present day situation because there was no U.S. as we know it after the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War we were split between a Union with a strong central government and The Confederated States with strong state governments and a weak central government. The Articles of Confederation set up a weak central government and strong state governments.
In all cases having a weak central government and strong state governments were major contributors to their own downfalls. If you were trying to show by example that having a weaker central government combined with strong state governments will lead to a significant economic disaster then I agree. If you were saying weaken the central government significantly to improve our economy then anyone who knows anything about American History would strongly disagree with you. What we really need is effective government the 'big vs small' government is a pointless argument.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:03AM

The concept of Federalism is that the States and the Federal government have differing responsibilities. Over the last century, the U.S. government has assumed a massive amount of authority in all areas of life; Be it education, regulation of markets, medical insurance(Medicaid and Medicare), retirement and disability payments(SS), and so on and on and on...

The Constitution being what it is, an inter-generational contract, it was to suffice in spelling out the authority of our central governing body. Amendments to the same have been proposed and ratified by the States, but we've seen a massive change in the way the U.S. operates in the last century without much public debate.

A collective of presidents, congressmen, and judges have fundamentally changed the structure of our U.S. government without the framework of the Constitution. Many of these changes were made with political expediency outside of the Amendment process. The authority of the U.S. government was rather specifically spelled out in the Articles of the Constitution. Article 1, Section 8, is particularly helpful in this regard.

Neither in that Article, nor any other, was any authority given to the U.S. government to legislate for and create such institutions as SS, Medicare, the FDA, and many many more.

In fact, much of that authority was left to the States and to the individuals residing within such States.

The ever-growing U.S. government is a problem. Of course, the only appendage of government that continually grows is its fourth arm, the bureaucracy. With hundreds of different agencies and thousands upon thousands of workers, I bet if you listened in D.C. you could hear the sucking sound of U.S. capital being gobbled up by these overpaid bureaucrats; Many of them make much more than their "private sector" cousins in both pay and lavish benefits and produce nothing but regulations and greenhouse gasses.

Clinton nee Publius| 5.12.10 @ 11:28AM

Best article I've read on this site in a long time. I congratulate the author on presenting the case with facts backing the material representations and peeling the liberal banana all the way around.

Excellent job.

Houston Rao| 5.12.10 @ 11:58AM

Remember those Greek columns behind Obama at his acceptance speech? It was a promise of the change he would bring to America....

Howard| 5.12.10 @ 2:50PM

Very Good!!

John3| 5.12.10 @ 1:39PM

Many level-headed economists and think tank organizations have said it all along: If we continue with this path of pro-abortion (anti-children), wild spending for entitlement programs and anti-free speech programs, we will end up like Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and the UK. If we do not do anything RIGHT now, I think we will be like them in 6 months! This is not just stupidity. It is lunacy. It is one thing to stand up for what one believes (liberal or conservative). But it is one big stupid big step for one to continue believing in change that leads to oblivion--this is plain and simple lunacy!

Lauren | 5.13.10 @ 3:53PM

What the hell does abortion have to do with any of this!?!

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:19AM

The legalization of the murder of unborn children only suffices to grease the skids of our country's moral decline.

In Germany, before Hitler, before the Final Solution, they already had euthanization programs in place. They started with abortions and worked their way up to down syndrome children and other children that were ill or with "defects" and ailing elderly patients. A quote from an individual named Dr. Alexander who worked in one of those programs in Germany: "It is much like Germany in the 20s and 30s. The barriers against killing are coming down." He was referring to the U.S. after WWII.

JP| 5.12.10 @ 1:52PM

The unvarnished truth is we are already bankrupt. They only difference between our federal government and private firms is it ability to print money, and the Federal Reserve's ability to inflate or deflate money.

The sums we are now talking about are so large that it is inconcievable that the federal government can ever pay this amount back without massively inflating the money supply. The demographics are just not there. There will not be near enough people earning the kind of income (which in turn generates tax revenues) to begin to payback $13 trillion +.

Bond holders and financial analysts know this, but they dare not utter a word lest a panic would ensue. So, we will first watch Europe implode. And when that happens we will be right behind them. And China and India will be following us.

This is a global time bomb waiting to go off. And just think, President Obama could have really sealed his legacy for the ages if he would have gone in the opposite direction than the one he chose. But for every trillion dollars he borrows the more difficult it will be for anyone to act.

Rockyspoon| 5.12.10 @ 3:28PM

Only 10% of the people are proactive in dealing with a crisis--hopefully many of you are part of that 10%. As a practicing Mormon I do indeed have a year's supply of food, but as a tiny minority, such food won't carry this nation through dire straits--I strongly suggest you all invest in a year's supply so you can feed yourself and lessen the burden on others. But right now, get a garden going and invest in a tiller, seeder and hand cultivator to help your food bill and your attitude--stop watching wasteful TV and get a tan, calluses, and nutritious food in the process. Buy some silver, a garden seed bank, and get out of debt. Oh, and vote those Progressives out of office! Purge the cancer!

Jay in Philadelphia| 5.12.10 @ 4:05PM

Bailouts suck. But what's the alternative? Ah, the alternative is to set response triggers part-way toward bailout status - to implement "pre-austerity" measures before a bailout becomes necessary. Too late now for Greece, but isn't anybody going to tell Ireland, Portugal and Spain?

Joe Doakes| 5.12.10 @ 4:22PM

Via email to: Rep. Hall, Appointed Sen. for NY, Sen. Schumer, Pres. Obama
Washington DC

January 20, 2008

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Yertle:

I am concerned that the manner in which the federal government is operating is eerily like how the Krupps munitions factory was still billing the Nazi’s - after Hitler committed suicide. Benjamin Franklin once remarked that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, and expecting different results. The congress has passed bailouts, and rescues, and soon a, stimulus package, all in an empty effort to save the Republic from the financial malfeasance of governments small and large. If they failed to work in the past what reason do you believe that they will work in the future? It appears to me that the solution is obvious. Forgetting financial reality for a moment. In a given year the US economy generates 10 to 15 trillion dollars. I say why wait for the year to pass. Next time all of you are at your respective posts pass a bill to print $12.5 Trillion and disperse it. At least that way we will all know who is getting the money.
Obviously, however enticing, this idea is absurd. Is it any more so than one insolvent institution, the US Government ($2 Trillion running deficit, $12 Trillion in debt), giving another insolvent institution, US Banks(Bloomberg news service reports $4-$5 Trillion required to re-capitalize them, at the current rate of loss), money it does not have anything to back it other than more debt, and a beaten up taxpayer? With ink so fresh on the bonds that the Communist Chinese government has yet to collect the interest on it? I fail to see the wisdom in how creating a smaller hole in one spot, and a bigger hole in another will ever do any of us any good. This philosophy has not worked in the past and it will not work in the future. The evil economic stew we are cooking has been brewed before, and it will taste just as bitter this time.
When Ronald Reagan took the reigns of this nation in 1981 we were in far worse shape than we are in today, a large portion of our military qualified for poverty assistance, a business owner could not breathe without the governments permission, inflation was sky high, unemployment at double digits. Unless we do the right thing now we will be there again, rapidly. Our economic problems today are manufactured by our own fiscal malfeasance - there is no shortage of food, energy, labor, or capital. What we have too much of is the heavy hand of government deciding who gets what, how much, and when via a complex set of regulations and tax policy. President Reagan, to the largest extent possible, ended that madness, and while the 80’s were no picnic, that decade created 20,000,000 new jobs, strengthened this nation so we could carry on in the future, and we brought most of the world with us as a lucky strike extra. The economic lesson of the 80’s is that freedom and economic liberty are viral, and the only antidote for it is big government - this is something we have forgotten or chosen to ignore. Up to now President Obamas rhetoric has been the antithesis of this pro growth philosophy. Mr. Obama thinks that a combination of targeted tax cuts, welfare, and government make work projects are the cure for our ills. To do this Mr. Obama will need more bureaucrats, and add more legal and fiscal complexity to meet his goals. I reject this economic cure and its implementation. Remember, what the government gives to one it must take from another. How does the government know that the capital or wealth it is redistributing will not be used for a much wiser purpose then the one it has ordained? It doesn’t. Like an alcoholic in a bar, the government drinks without accountability, and spends the monthly mortgage payment on whiskey without forethought, and hurts everyone it claims to care about. Remember these thoughts as you create the next seemingly free government give away; someone has to pay for it, that someone will be our children, their payment will either be in gold or blood.
This insanity of printing, borrowing, and misallocation of capital must stop. No country on earth has ever borrowed, spent or taxed it’s way to recovery, let alone prosperity. War and Depression? Absolutely. If this economic cancer is allowed to metastasize we will once again be pushed as a nation into a choice of not whether we should or should not do something, but whether or not we can. The “stimulus package” legislation all of you are considering is nothing more than economic suicide.

Respectfully,

Factotum Totalus| 5.13.10 @ 12:53PM

"strengthened this nation so we could carry on in the future,"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra

Reagan praised the mujahadeen as freedom fighters battling an evil empire, stating, "To watch the courageous Afghan freedom fighters battle modern arsenals with simple hand-held weapons is an inspiration to those who love freedom. Their courage teaches us a great lesson—that there are things in this world worth defending. To the Afghan people, I say on behalf of all Americans that we admire your heroism, your devotion to freedom, and your relentless struggle against your oppressors."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F.....fghanistan

"The U.S. provided intelligence information and financial assistance to the Iraqi military regime. The U.S. also allowed the shipment of "dual use" materials, that could be used for chemical and biological weapons, ostensibly for agriculture, medical research, and other civilian purposes, but they were diverted for use in Saddam's weapons of mass destruction programs."

DatsunMark| 5.12.10 @ 9:03PM

At least The Soviet's were a little more honest and up front about what they were doing...they enslaved their people to dig iron ore. The slaves smelted the ore into steel to build large machines that dug iron ore, which was smelted into steel to build large machines that dug iron ore,...
Desperate starving people will trade their freedom for the security of a fool.

Nathan Bickel| 5.13.10 @ 12:54AM

Once again Obama illustrates that he cares little for American citizens. The Apology-in-Chief cannot stop at just excusing the USA for this and for that when he speaks to foreign audiences. Now, he redistributes more of the taxpayers' monies by his foreign welfare give-a-ways......

JJ| 5.13.10 @ 11:24AM

According to CNN things are great and getting better and we are doing the right thing all over the world.

Stanley Ford| 5.13.10 @ 12:47PM

Is this all "conservatives" have left? Fear?
Zero solutions, zero ideas, zero support for anyone with actual ideas.

What you ALL fail to realize is that Bush and Reagan got America into this mess and the failed the American people with a ponzi scheme called Reaganomics which has done more for the disparity in wealth than any single thing in our history.

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!!

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 3:51PM

Thank you Mr. Ford.

We hardly ever get the marxist point of view here at TAS, from Useful Idiots like yourself.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:37AM

Oh yes, so allowing companies to produce wealth and in turn create jobs created the disparity of incomes, and not the government's hammer of taxes and regulations.

The fact of the matter is that our current tax system favors those who have already attained wealth and punishes the producers and the poor. Those earning a "passive" income through dividends only have their dividends taxed, leaving those individuals with their principal.

Those who own companies who produce "stuff" and those who are employed by companies that produce "stuff" are generally the higher taxed individuals in our society. The "middle class" pays the majority of the taxes that aren't soaked up by the "rich" because they earn higher incomes and must still pay the consumption taxes and taxes passed onto customers by companies through goods and services as well as property taxes, licensing fees, etc.

The very poor who do menial jobs and service jobs, many who only have part-time jobs and such are the ones most punished by the system behind the "middle class." While they pay little income tax, they still must contend with consumption taxes, property taxes, licensing fees and all the other things that come with attempting to live a free life in this society.

The "middle class" is shrinking because the government cannot get its hands out of the economical pie(and I'm not talking zero-sum econ either). People are losing their jobs because the companies that employ them are forced to deal with the costs associated with doing business. Higher taxes and regulations only stifle job growth, regardless of how much the government tries to "stimulate" the economy.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 1:34PM

I also guess you lament a disparity of incomes because "It's not fair!" You would do nicely to join Gordon Brown and his Labor party ilk in Britain.

Nolan Cody| 5.13.10 @ 1:06PM

This article is twisting facts to support a false position.

Comparing this recession to the last is comparing apples to oranges. The situations are different, comparing them directly isn't reasonable.

The author suggests that America needs to continue to have access to borrow funds to wage war, but indicates that ObamaCare is a bad thing. Way to set your priorities.

The debt numbers quoted at the end of the article are funny too. How much of that was racked up during a decade of Bush wars in Iraq?

America is at the precipice of a crisis because of unreasonable spending on military action. The Bushes borrowed too much to wage war, sending the economy in to a nose dive, and they took off as soon as the plane hit the ground.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:40AM

Yes, but you're going out on a limb with the "all-or-nothing" thinking.

It's not just military spending. We have unfunded liabilities of other 100+ trillions of dollars with future pensions, Medicare, Medicaid, SS, and all the other wonderful entitlements which our government so wonderfully provides.

jerry| 5.13.10 @ 1:30PM

who will bail us out the Chineese? the USA has bailout or help the EU after ww1,ww11 its thier problem! its time to focus on jobs for the people o the USA first.time to change our trade polocies too no more freetrade ffor we go bacck to fairtrade. cut our corpreate tax from 35% to 0% and capital gains tax is 0% too. its ythe economy sytupid!

Luis Ayala| 5.13.10 @ 1:41PM

I will give Reagan a little credit that is due for his economic work in the eighties. I'm a little left of center but understand that Reagan did some good things. But to credit him with hammering down inflation? I believe Paul Volker was the Fed chair 79-89. His policies had more impact on inflation that Reagan.

Kinsley Bingham| 5.13.10 @ 1:47PM

Don't Mess with Taxes... err... Texas...

Neurosine| 5.13.10 @ 2:10PM

This article screams with bias. Helping a country in desperation is not analogous to the bail out. I've often disagreed with Obama, but I trust his instincts and intentions. I could not say the same of our former president whose administration Obama is bailing us out from.
I don't understand why this isn't more obvious on one level, then I look at the agendas, and I understand that it's a debate...but this one matters. It's not monopoly money or lives we're waging our arguments against. We should stop pretending it is.

CynicalPatriot| 5.13.10 @ 2:10PM

Another divisive article that fails to look at the problem outside the tinted glasses of partisanship. This problem has been caused by our national policies...not any specific to one party. $8.9T of our current deficits were accrued under budgets signed by Republican Presidents. We have become a "buy now, pay later" nation. The Greatest Generation (I am only in my 30's) worked and saved to build us into the greatest nation in history and, since about 1980, we've all mortgaged and remortgaged our national goods to build up an unsustainable lifestyle and are now surprised this Ponzi scheme will tumble. But to say it's the fault of a President that's controlled the purse strings for about 7 1/2 months (during our worst economic times since the Depression) seems a little silly. I know it makes for good rabble rousing, but this isn't a Party or Candidate specific issue - it's national and crosses to all political leanings.

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 3:14PM

Obummer has "controlled the purse strings for about 7 1/2 months"? Just who controlled them for the FIRST YEAR of his pretending to be president?
No, it's not all Obummer's fault. The real problem is the Banksters OWNING most presidents for the last 100 years (maybe not owning Kennedy and thus he being killed so Johnson could do what he was told to do).
Get rid of the Federal Reserve and we have a chance to save the USA. Otherwise, heaven help us.

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 3:48PM

Amen brother or sister.

The Paytioy| 5.13.10 @ 3:02PM

Obama is the best president yet.

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 3:10PM

Just what history book have your read? Are you a five-year-old, without enough knowledge to compare him with anybody else?
Geez, amazing.
Just maybe read up on our "founding fathers" to give you a little clue as to what a "great" president can do.

Lauren | 5.13.10 @ 3:46PM

The founding fathers were not presidents. But go ahead...keep correcting people with your Fox News level intellect. Its hilarious.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 3:54PM

Lauren,

You went to publik skool, didn't you?

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 4:02PM

Do you have have a point? No. Your just pissy 'cause I mentioned Fox aren't you. :(

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 4:07PM

Lauren,

My point is that you don't know who the Founders were, or you wouldn't have made such an inane statement.

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 4:11PM

Actually, YOU seem to be the "pissy" one who is WRONG and must be an ObamaBot. It's funny how so many of YOUR TYPE automatically want to blame those who think Obummer is a moron must watch Fox and listen to Beck. I don't listen or watch either. Just INVESTIGATING and EDUCATING myself (such as Obummer's background with socialism and Bill Ayers, that ObamaBots can't handle admitting to) and draw conclusions instead of keeping my head stuck in the sand (or elsewhere) as ObamaBots seem to do.

Lauren | 5.13.10 @ 4:46PM

I don't give a shit about Obama; did not vote for him.

It does bother me that he is getting blamed for the consequences of Bush and Reagonomics in the most hypocritical manner I have seen in my life.

I like placing blame where it is due. I guess I am just a sucker for justice.

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 4:01PM

So, you don't think Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Adams were founding fathers AND ALSO presidents? So, where did you get your education?

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 4:05PM

Stevor,

I think you meant Madison, rather than Hamilton. Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury.

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 4:07PM

Yes, I remembered that right after I clicked on "submit". Thanks.

Lauren| 5.13.10 @ 4:22PM

Not all founding fathers were presidents. The founding fathers were political leaders. Out of their efforts came the opportunity to have future presidents but at the outset they were not presidents.

The founding fathers had a clean slate to work with. Obama has to work within the framework that the founding fathers created and that the last two centuries worth of congress destroyed. Presidents nowadays can't accomplish jack. Anything they do can be undone by future administrations.

But it doesn't matter. They win because we won't stop arguing with ourselves.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 4:58PM

"The founding fathers were not presidents." - Lauren

Next time, try to be more accurate in what you are trying to convey, alright?

JmsA| 5.14.10 @ 2:48PM

"The Founding fathers were not presidents."

Not all founding Fathers, that is the framers of the Constitution in 1787, were presidents, but George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, were. And guess what? I watch Fox News and read the American Spectator on a regular basis, including at times asenine and ignorant comments such as yours, not to mention your self-deluded, unbecoming condescencion, not just far from hilarious, but rather pathetic.

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 3:08PM

A "line of credit" to the IMF? Huh, just where does the IMF have any "income" that it could use to "pay back" some "loan"? Sure, Obummer wants Cap & Trade to go to them, but the IMF does NOT (yet) have any "citizens" to be taxed for its "income".

Morons and more morons!

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 3:18PM

NOBODY will bail the USA out. The Federal Reserve is about to "own" the modern world as it makes the EU indebted to it. With that done, the Chinese will "play our game" since it'll be the "only game in town".

hilarious| 5.13.10 @ 3:25PM

You guys are all right. We need to cut anything not related to defense, social security, or medicare.

*looks at US budget graphs*

Oh, turns out that if we did that we'd still be running deficits. But, but, but...really it is Obama the communist's fault!!!

Grow up you petulant children. The only solution is to eviscerate Medicare. And what did you all do when Obama proposed cuts of the most inefficient parts of it? You cried in droves of death panels.

You're a bunch of hypocrites. And while you continue to brainwash yourselves into thinking popular opinion is with you it will continue to trend away from you. Drill baby drill...hah!

Lauren | 5.13.10 @ 3:42PM

We need to cut defense spending too. Like the greedy corporate fat cats there are too many overpaid, under needed military generals. Oh and don't get me started on defense contractors.

Why do we need hundred of military bases all over the world? I fear for the day the US thinks it can take over the world.

stevor| 5.13.10 @ 4:00PM

Lauren,
I think they've figured out that taking over the world is much less messy by doing it financially instead of just killing people. Unfortunately, some folks just own a lot of military companies and that's how they get rich.
In either case, the USA has pretty much already taken over the world.

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 3:58PM

Is that you, 3/5 Bob?

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 1:44PM

I agree with you, Medicare needs to be eviscerated. It also needs to be done responsibly. Those who were promised and have been paying for Medicare should get to enjoy the benefits of the lie presented to them while they still live.

After that, it's only a question of when to dissolve the program completely. My generation and the one before it, those who are currently in their forties or so, need not apply.

Keeping the program alive beyond the next decade or so means rationing care to a level where the elderly simply get left out in the cold when they develop a serious illness like cancer, which statistically happens to a great majority of people who live past a certain age.

If the program doesn't start rationing care as such, it will continue to hemorrhage red ink and put us further into debt as a country. Isn't socialism fun?

J Tailbain| 5.13.10 @ 4:36PM

"The notion that the economy was going to tumble ever downward without some magic from Obama the Magnificent was always a fairy tale"

Agreed. Why did Bush push through the $700 billion dollar bail-out again?

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 1:46PM

Because he also believes in Keynesian economics.

anon| 5.13.10 @ 6:09PM

Nothing like quality unbiased fact based journalism!

Nick| 5.13.10 @ 7:12PM

Are you the same "Anon" who defends child rapists, like Polanski?

RainMan49| 5.13.10 @ 8:32PM

"burden of the baby boom" -- the baby boom has carried the burden of paying Social Security for all the prior generations, while concurrently paying in a huge surplus amount, supposedly under the premise of covering themselves in their retirement, this was done from 1986 to the present. They've paid in the most, for the longest. How can anyone have the audacity to paint them as a 'burden' -- just self serving hog wash.

MattZ| 5.13.10 @ 11:55PM

So, wait - the notion we're being sold here is that America's financial predicament is entirely the fault of Democrats? *They're* the ones who spent up the debt?
Please.
MZ

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:45AM

So, your answer to the Dem's entitlements? Obama hasn't cut spending anywhere...

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:47AM

Except for some pet military projects and NY's security budget.

kochevnik| 5.14.10 @ 1:13AM

More diatribe by crypto-catholic conservatives in league with Nazi Pope and his banksters the Rothschilds to bring about the unenlightment and enact the counter-reformation.

matt| 5.14.10 @ 9:29AM

Is it just me or does anyone think our money problems could be easily fixed by ending a war with no end. We can possibly "win" since condition of victory have never been made. couple that with decriminalization of drugs (i mean all) and legalization of most (maybe all) drugs. People are gonna do crack we should atleast tax them for it, we will make our money back since most(or alot) are on welfare. In other countries doing this made drug use go down.

either way the wars are expensive, im not supporting just pulling out now (though not opposed). Id just like to have victory conditions known so we can do them and quit dumping trillions in other countries while our is so broken.

matt...again| 5.14.10 @ 9:39AM

One other thing, I think there are much deeper problems with social security than made obvious here. Baby boomer are not going to wreck it, most people have kids and most of those kids get jobs and pay into social security, plus all the years the baby boomers work should have added the extra money the fund needed. The babyboomers kids should out number the baby boomers themselves like our kids should out number us. If the fund was never touched except to pay out to retirees it would be fine. The logic, it must hurt.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:49AM

Indeed. Too bad the money was taken by Statist Dems and spent in the general fund. Darn Statists cannot leave a nickel un-spent.

Greek | 5.14.10 @ 10:19AM

Do you Americans fail to see what is happening, or do you just choose to ignore it? The USA invest on countries like Greece. You are no longer sustainable and therefore you need, except for all the 3rd world countries which you already own, more and more. And Greece is fragile enough for you to take. You don't pay for anything, you invest in your future. In the expense of everyone else. I wish you never gave Greece the money, you never saved anyone anyway, you always want something, banks, resources, like oil etc. And when you destroy Europe you will have more countries to take advantage of. Thank you so much for your generosity, not.

Eric(OfConservativeMind)| 5.17.10 @ 2:54AM

Yes, vent! Vent all you need, and then read:

Greece is responsible for Greece's problems. Your country's socialism got you where you are, and the citizens of your country are having a hard time getting off the government tit. Europe will soon likely follow, because socialized government experiments have always failed every time they have been instituted.

Don't you worry; the U.S. will be soon behind EU, if not ahead of it. We're reaching unsustainable debt levels because of government spending and the Statists within our government just cannot seem to let go of the purse-strings. We will be entering Great Depression tax levels within the next decade if we continue our spending and without a radical change in direction we will continue to do so.