Making decisions for America

If we're going to try to curtail spending in the U.S., setting priorities seems important. Where do YOUR values lie?

Republican view of budget cutting.

The ultimate cost of the war we didn't need to fight.

Republican hypocrisy on the economy

Republicans are acting all noble now over their position on the debt and the deficit. They pretend, as if no one can remember the recent past, that they have always been the party of restraint and frugality when it comes to spending money. They want voters to believe that their only real concern, other than controlling women, is to reduce your taxes for you - to make you wealthy and happy by making you pay all of their friends in the private sector for things the government is doing for you now. Things like health insurance (medicare and medicaid) and school for your children.

But in reality, it is all a charade. What they really want is to give more of your money to their pals. If they weren't lying to you, if they really were your friend in providing for a debt free government with low taxes, why did they take a deficit-free budget and equitable tax rates and run the deficit through the roof while giving bigger tax breaks to corporations and the rich? What do they think we are, stupid?

And to answer my own question - yes.

Billionaires are pushing austerity to hurt you

When we're finished paying his debt...

Republicans have a little issue

Here's an interesting thing to think about - I think.  If the government does not come up with a budget plan by December 31,  a whole series of budget actions will take place because of legislation Congress passed, and the President approved, last summer. The reason that legislation passed was to put a temporarily budget in place with both sides agreeing that the deficits the government is running need to be controlled.

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors, told Congress that such massive cuts in government spending would result in a recession because current economic situations are weak. Now the President and Congress are arguing over - get this - cuts to government spending.  Apparently they are trying to negotiate cuts in spending that are just different from the cuts they've already passed.

What's the difference? Is it just a matter of degree? If, as Bernanke said, the "fiscal cliff" we might ride over on 12/31/2012 is going to be bad for us, why should we expect that different cuts would be any better? So, we're going to roll down a fiscal hill instead of falling off a fiscal cliff? Seems like much ado about nothing. We're fucked either way.

When the Republicans last controlled the government, they spent like drunken sailors - approving two wars and a new part D for Medicare, none of which they funded. Instead, they cut taxes for the wealthy. The national deficit rose at a much faster rate under the "small government conservatives" than it has under any Democrat.

15 Things Republicans Don't Want You to Know About Taxes and the National Debt.

1. President Obama Cut Taxes for Almost All Working Americans
2. Ronald Reagan Tripled the National Debt
3. George W. Bush Doubled the National Debt
4. Reagan Raised Debt Ceiling 17 Times, Bush Seven
5. Tax Cuts Don't Pay for Themselves
6. Almost All Working Americans Pay Taxes
7. The GOP's "Job Creators" Don't Create Jobs
8. Low Capital Gains Taxes Fuel Income Inequality...
9. ...But Not Investment
10. The Estate Tax Has Virtually No Impact on Family Farms and Businesses
11. Income Inequality Has Reached an 80 Year High...
12. ...While the Federal Tax Burden Has Hit a 60 Year Low
13. Romney-Ryan Plan Another Massive Tax Cut Windfall for the Wealthy
14. Romney, Ryan Won't Say Which of the $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks GOP Will End
15. Romney-Ryan Will Add More Debt Than President Obama

Who REALLY increased the debt?

A big part of the reason the US is in debt.

Keep Spending - Poster

Bush Balloons Size Of Government

Whatever happens over the next 16 months, President Bush will leave office having presided over one of the fastest accumulations of government debt in the history of the United States.

During his time in office, federal debt held by the public – Washington's equivalent of a credit-card balance – will have increased by more than 50 percent, to about $5.5 trillion. Uncle Sam will be paying interest on that sum for years to come.

From Yahoo News

Bush Sets Records

So much for the "smaller government" philosophy of the Republicans - it's more like a "screw you" philosophy.

Did You Know - National Debt Hypocrite

This post is from an older news story - about a week old. It is but one of many reasons I think GWB is our worst President ever. If he was honest, at least, about what he has done to this country, you could have a little respect for him.

To hear President Bush tell it, he's on the side of the angels when it comes to federal spending. In his Saturday radio address, he blasted congressional Democrats for pursuing "tax and spend policies," while trumpeting his own commitment to keep taxes low and restrain federal spending. He said his plan will produce a balanced federal budget by 2012.

But what Mr. Bush didn't mention, and what he almost never mentions, is the National Debt. With good reason.

On the day he took office, the National Debt stood at this unfathomable number:

$5,727.776.738,304.64

In fiscal shorthand, that's $5.7 trillion dollars. Trillion with a "T."

Six and a half years later, the Bureau of Public Debt tells us the National Debt clocks in at a staggering:

$8,835,268,597,181.95

That's $8.8 trillion – an increase of $3.1 trillion dollars since January 20, 2001.

And that amounts to a jump of 54% during Mr. Bush's watch.

From CBS News.

Did You Know - In the News

Another member of the "family values" party demonstrates what exactly family values entail...

From Keloland TV...

A former South Dakota lawmaker is accused of molesting his own foster children and legislative pages.

Ted Klaudt, 49, a Republican rancher from Walker, faces a long list of charges: eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of witness tampering, sexual contact with a person under 16, and stalking.

Woof - this clip is pretty freightening for all of us. Does it seem to you like, maybe, the government should be doing something about it?

From the USA Today...

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

The loss reflects a continued deterioration in the finances of Social Security and government retirement programs for civil servants and military personnel. The loss — equal to $11,434 per household — is more than Americans paid in income taxes in 2006.

"We're on an unsustainable path and doing a great disservice to future generations," says Chris Chocola, a former Republican member of Congress from Indiana and corporate chief executive who is pushing for more accurate federal accounting.

Modern accounting requires that corporations, state governments and local governments count expenses immediately when a transaction occurs, even if the payment will be made later.

The federal government does not follow the rule, so promises for Social Security and Medicare don't show up when the government reports its financial condition.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined.

National Debt

Will the Democratic Congress get things under control?

From The Progress Report (Center for American Progress, 1/5/2007)...

During President Bush's six years in office, he and Congress have taken an inherited surplus and have transformed it into a mountain of debt. "The budget outlook for the next decade is bleak," according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). The Congressional Budget Office projects that "if the President's tax cuts are made permanent and relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax is extended, deficits will average about $350 billion a year for the next ten years (2007-2016), even if the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan decline substantially in a few years." CBPP found that legislation enacted over the last six years has increased the national debt by $2.3 trillion -- including $633 billion in interest payments alone. ("In 2006, the federal government spent $1 out of every $12 on interest payments, or $227 billion. That's more than we spend on education, housing, veterans’ care, and environmental protection, combined.")
Despite the grim picture, Bush practiced a bit of "me-tooism" this week as he promised to submit a plan to "balance the federal budget by 2012," despite the fact that he has "never proposed a balanced budget since it went into deficit, never vetoed a spending bill when Republicans controlled Congress and offered little sustained objection to earmarks until the issue gained political traction last year." "That's shameless, even by local standards," writes the Washington Post's David Ignatius. Moreover, the President's bloated budgets have reflected skewed priorities and have not stimulated economic
growth. Today, the House takes up the goal of bringing fiscal discipline back to Washington with bills establishing "pay-as-you-go" budgeting practices and bringing transparency to the earmarking process.

National Deficit and Debt

From Yahoo News (I've lost the specific link)

The government will raise $32 billion next week as part of a total of $63 billion in borrowing planned for the final three months of this year, the treasury department announced Wednesday.

The government said next week's borrowing, known as a quarterly refunding, would consist of $19 billion in three-year notes auctioned on Nov. 1 and $13 billion in 10-year notes auctioned on Nov. 2. The rest of the borrowing needs for the quarter will be accomplished through other debt auctions including the regular weekly auction of three-month and six-month bills.

The $63 billion in borrowing planned for this quarter was $41 billion lower than an estimate made in July. The government attributed the improvement in part to an unexpected flood of tax revenues in recent months. However, the improvement is expected to be temporary.

Treasury is projecting that the government will need to borrow a record $175 billion in the first three months of 2007 as the federal budget deficit resumes an upward climb. The government is required to borrow billions of dollars each week to finance the shortfall between tax collections and spending.

Part of that money goes to pay the interest on the national debt, which now stands at $8.48 trillion.