Free eBook

The American Debt Crisis: The Greedy Versus The Stupid

"We must spend more money we don't have on things we don't need!"After weeks of wrangling with the Republicans over the debt ceiling, Vice President Joe Biden accused members of the Tea Party of having "acted like terrorists."

The comments came in a closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting after Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) reportedly said that "We have negotiated with terrorists. This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money."

The New York Daily News
August 1, 2011

Somewhere in Chicago Rahm Emanuel must be smiling as yet another made-for-TV national crisis has been averted through bold political leadership (sarcasm intentional).

Now comes the “Pundit Free-for-all” as the so-called experts in the media debate their favorite subject “who won?”

First of all, if you have a hard core lefty like Mike Doyle saying “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money," it’s hard to call that a victory for tax and spend democrats who truly believe that the job of congress is to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need.

The Greedy

While the left wants us to believe that they are all a bunch of modern day Robin Hoods (robbing from Hedge Fund Managers and Corporate Jet Owners to give to the poor), there is virtually no evidence that this has actually occurred.

Black unemployment sits at 16.2 % and in hard hit urban areas like Detroit, things have actually gotten worse this summer. In June, the unemployment rate jumped from 11.6% in May to a whopping 12.5%. In fact, 15 of 17 major labor markets experienced an unemployment spike in June of 2011.

Yet, there are still a few far left whack-jobs claiming that Obama’s stimulus wasn’t big enough. But if you look at the numbers, it’s impossible to imagine anything larger. The original stimulus was $787 billion and then in another “grand compromise” last December, Obama was given another $860 billion dollar “stimulus” that was effectively mislabeled by the main stream media as “the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts.”

That totals $1.6 trillion in Obama Stimulus dollars in 18 months and yet all we have to show for it is a GDP growth rate teetering on recession.

How is it possible to pump $1.6 trillion into a $14 trillion economy and have virtually no economic growth to show for it?

The answer is twofold; first, the stimulus dollars never really reached the economy. It went to state governments to cover their losses due to insane union pension plan costs. Second, the anti-business tax and regulate policies of the Obama administration has chased trillions of dollars out of the private sector economy – more than offsetting whatever economic stimulus Obama may have created.

How is this greedy?

With the exception of the across the board puny tax cuts that Obama handed out (to the tune of $7/week), virtually all of his stimulus spending went through the hands of organized labor. Big Labor is the most prolific grantor of campaign funds and the only big donor group that gives 90%+ of its money to one party – Obama and the democrats.

That’s why dems like Mike Doyle are crying about “not being able to spend money.” If the dems can’t throw trillions at the unions, then the unions won’t have any money to pay them back with to fatten their campaign coffers.

To me this is text book greed and corruption.

The Stupid

Sadly, there are plenty of “stupids” to go around in this debt crisis:

1. Those Americans who believed that an economic crisis could be averted by simply allowing Obama to borrow more money. Clearly, this was a major message in all of Obama’s debt crisis speeches. But the truth is the major credit rating agencies (Moody’s and S&P) have made it clear that the US Credit Rating will be downgraded if they don’t see deep and serious cuts.

2. Conservatives and republican congressmen who think that we should have “just said no” to raising the debt ceiling. Sorry, but “that dog don’t hunt.” First of all, we have a 30% operating deficit. We will collect $170 billion in August and spend a few ticks over $300 billion. Sure $170B is enough to service the debt and pay Social Security, Medicare and the Military, but anyone who thinks we can cut $130 billion in spending in one month is just plain stupid.

The ripple effect of a debt limit freeze would have been devastating by October 2011. Millions of unemployed government workers, across the board cuts in Social Security and Medicare payments, and dangerous military pull-backs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The right and the Tea Party would take all the blame away from Obama and the dems and find themselves eternally banished from American politics. Worse, the economy would continue to get worse due to unemployment and even greater private sector capital evaporation.

The crisis that would have followed such a move would have been the sort of thing Obama could have used to declare Marshall Law and suspend the Constitution for the safety of all.

3. Anyone who thinks this is a bad deal for republicans is just being stupid. There are no tax increases in this bill. The cuts are real (although well short of what’s necessary) and the triggers assure that this debate will be “front and center” in the 2012 elections. What’s wrong with that?

The Elephant in The Room

Last week I saw Stuart Varney on TV and he rattled off a few figure about the Federal Deficit that shocked even me:

Even if all the Bush Tax cuts were repealed (including those on the poor), the annual deficit would still be over $1.5 trillion.
If the government raised the tax rate on everyone who makes more than $250,000 year to 100% (thus confiscating all of their income), the deficit would still be $750 billion, which is 50% more than any deficit by any president not named Obama.
If the government confiscated all the wealth of every man, woman, and child on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in America, it could close the deficit for exactly one year!

Only someone who is greedy or stupid actually believes that we can solve the American Debt Crisis without radically redefining the role and scope of government. Sadly, most Americans don't fully appreciate the depth of the mess we're in -- they believe something as stupid as "shared sacrifice" or my favorite "a balanced approach" can fix all this.

How about you?

Dave

Quote this article on your site

To create link towards this article on your website,
copy and paste the text below in your page.

Preview :

The American Debt Crisis: The Greedy Versus The Stupid
Tuesday, 02 August 2011

Who Stole My Career?

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites