Letter: America facing Era of Irresponsibility

[citation needed]

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• Posted by pantheon on April 2, 2009 at 7:12 a.m.
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Letter: America facing Era of Irresponsibility

"Iraqi troop withdrawals, which would have happened anyway" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf7HYo...

"Obama apparently hasn’t heard of 'the buck stops here.'" "'As we work toward getting ourselves out of the recession, I hope that Wall Street and the marketplace doesn't think that we can return to business as usual,' he said. 'The buck stops with me,' Obama told reporters." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29752749/

"2009 budget, the one Obama’s referencing, not only includes his massive bailouts, but happens on his timetable" "Bush on Monday will release a $3 trillion budget for 2009" http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-01-budget-elements_N.htm

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• Posted by pantheon on April 1, 2009 at 2:03 p.m.
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Letter: America facing Era of Irresponsibility

pantheon:

Obama's own staff admitted that their budget projections assume that A) Iraqi troops will stay at their current levels until 2019 (8 years after Bush would have withdrawn all but a residual force) and B) that new entitlement programs created by the stimulus package would suddenly be cut down to $0 after just a few years (which we all know won't happen.) This creates an illusion that somehow by creating a $1 trillion dollar deficit every year for the next 10, this administration is really cutting the deficit in half.

You can see when those bills were enacted and what % Democratic support they received here: http://www.brutallyhonest.org/brutally_honest/2009/03/countering-the-inherited-deficit-lie.html

The $1.75 trillion deficit of last year is the largest deficit ever recorded. Given this fact it would be wise to see how it came about. TARP ($700 billion,) the stimulus/porkulus ($800 billion,) omnibus ($410 billion), mortgage bailout ($25 billion,) stimulus checks, ($124.4 billion,) automaker bailout ($16.2 billion.) What do all of these have in common? They were all one time expenditures (which explains the massive jump in the deficit from 2007's $170 or so billion,) they were all supported by Obama, and many of them occured on his watch and could have been vetoed by him.

Given these two pieces of information, I think it is a bit manipulative of Obama to complain that he inherited a deficit from the previous administration when his own budget projections are going to create more national debt than all previous US presidents combined.

http://www.heritage.org/research/budget/bg2249.cfm - Scroll through there for relevant information and citations mostly taken from government websites.

This budget deficit must be paid off at some point. Interest alone will necessitate that in the near future we pay more money in interest on the debt than into entitlement programs like medicare and social security by the end of this administration. How can we possibly afford that?

I understand that the new president and his supporters want to fulfill their domestic agenda, but we are in a different set of circumstances now. These programs must wait or we will permanently disable our economy.

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• Posted by connerm on April 3, 2009 at 9:31 a.m.
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Letter: America facing Era of Irresponsibility

"This budget deficit must be paid off at some point." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_J...

"until 2019 (8 years after Bush would have withdrawn all but a residual force)" I am not a doctor, but Bush would not be president in 2019. Or 2009. Or any of the years between 2009 and 2019. Well, I mean, he briefly was during 2009, for like, 20 days.

I do wish you could talk without doublespeak, because I have the "Doublespeak to Static" add-on for Firefox, and so most of what I see up there is just whargarbl. If you are unfamiliar with whargarbl, a google image search should clear that up for you.

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• Posted by pantheon on April 3, 2009 at 2:06 p.m.
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Letter: America facing Era of Irresponsibility

Linguo: So the Obama administration claims that it will cut the deficit in half by 2019 by an accounting sleight of hand that makes rosy assumptions about the economy, assumes the Iraq war would have gone on at its current level until 2019 (something neither Bush nor CBO would have projected or recommended at the end of his tenure in office,) and claiming that new entitlement programs created in the stimulus package would be cut off after just a couple of years, and I'm the manipulative one? You're hard to please.

Of course the administration has pledged openness and I commend it, but this was not the thrust of my argument. I am saying that, as the author rightfully claims, this economic policy will drive us into the ground.

Finally, please indicate to me a policy that would have been supported by "right wingers" that was not voted on in a bipartisan manner that you think got us on this path. You can go back as far as you want into other administrations if you like.

I am really sick of you left wingers with NOTHING to do but bitch about

Pantheon:

Would you like to make a statement about Jackson? Are you claiming that a balanced budget causes recession? Does this mean that we should pump up our deficit as large as possible to ensure economic prosperity? I hope that's not what you're claiming. Please tell me.

LIke 90% of other readers, I assumed you would interpret my statement as meaning "With the current trends in the Iraq war, Bush projected a mass withdrawal leaving only a residual force by 2011." Of course it would be silly to claim that Bush would still be in power in 2011 or 2019 since he was not eligible to run for re-election. Fortunately no interpretation of my words insinuates this.

Usually I can tell when I'm ahead in an argument in one of three ways: the previously engaged opposition becomes silent, claims that they will get back to me later and never does, or begins to insult me rather than respond to my arguments. It seems we have reached the latter. If you are ready for a civil discussion on whether liberal or conservative fiscal views are better for society, I'm more than willing to debate you.

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• Posted by connerm on April 3, 2009 at 3:34 p.m.
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