Three trillion and six hundred billion dollars. President Obama just got a spending account worth three trillion and six hundred billion dollars. The aim of the spending is to halve the federal deficit by the end of his first term in office through expanded government activism, tax increases for wealthy families and businesses, and spending cuts targeted at those "who profited from an era of profound irresponsibility". Let me put this in perspective for you. The publicly held debt - which is the money owed to domestic and foreign creditors - was 40.8% of the GDP in 2008. In 2008, the gross domestic product was $14.22 trillion, of which $5.8 trillion was debt. In 2009 and 2010, under the President's proposed spending plan, the GDP is estimated to be $14.4 trillion and $14.7 trillion, respectively. Here's the scary part, the projections for national debt as a percentage of GDP for 2009 and 2010 are 58.7% and 64.6%, respectively. That's $8.3 trillion in 2009 and $9.5 trillion in 2010 for public debt.
This unprecedented spending bill is going to fund education projects, nationalized health care, and the shifting of energy sources away from gas and oil. All this will be done in the name of a massive reordering of the federal government. So lets recap what we have so far, $780 billion spending bill, $410 billion pork-barrel spending bill, and now this. Lets not forget that $200 billion has been budgeted for the war in Afghanistan. And, on top of all this, Mr. Obama is blaming all of this on the Bush Administration and criticizing past war budgeting stating, "and that kind of dishonest accounting is not how you run your family budgets at home; its not how your government should run its budgets, either". I'm sorry Mr. President, did I hear your right? Your talking about dishonest accounting and fiscal responsibility? A) you want to spend 3.55 trillion dollars on God knows what, B) Tim Geitner, Hilda Solis, Tom Daschle, Bill Richardson...enough said. You've elected members to your cabinet, to sit in positions that hold tremendous power, yet half of these members can't even pay their taxes. And here he is blasting the Bush administration. President Bush had his good days and bad, but you cannot possibly blast him for this economic crisis. This crisis was created because of greedy banks, naive homeowners, and a lack of regulation by the SEC and FED...not by public policy. Bush spent $600 billion on the war, and here Obama is spending in excess of trillions of dollars, don't forget the interest due.
Why should you care? Because taxing households and businesses making $250,000 or more is not going to fund all of this mayhem. Top economists agree that he will most likely have to begin lowering that number to $150,000, maybe even $75,000. Someone has to pay for this, and that someone is the American people. Obama is basing his optimistic, and in my opinion unrealistic, projections on the fact that he believes the economy will recover and growth will be established at a faster pace then most economists and scholars are willing to accept.
I'm not only frustrated, but sadly disheartened, as our country moves in a direction so far skewed from its roots. As Margaret Thatcher once said, "the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money". Call it socialism, call it fiscal responsibility, call it payback even. I don't care what you call it. Obama is going on a massive spending spree on our tab and on our children's tab. His Robin Hood mentality of stealing from the rich to fund the poor is wrong. His massive spending in times of economic hardship is wrong. His criticism of past administrations, and accusations of accountability and irresponsibility are wrong. I'm a Republican, but don't get me wrong, I am all for Obama doing well and succeeding, and I think anyone who is not doesn't love this country. But when I see wrong, I am required to point it out. The best thing everyone can do, is read up on these spending bills, contact your local representatives and let them know what you think. Government is supposed to work for us, not the other way around. I don't mean to end on a pessimistic note, but I really can't see the light at the end of this tunnel, and its very troubling.
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