People think they’ve voted for Obamacare, more lavish food stamps, higher minimum wage, greater Social Security/Disability payments, etc. The trouble is there’s NO. MONEY. for this. America has outspent the planet. The official Congressional Budget Office estimate of a Washington-sized government requires the rest of the planet to put a fifth of its GDP into buying U.S. Treasury debt. Now, and forever. That is NOT. GOING. TO. happen. At some point, some guy nobody’s ever heard of on the other side of the planet is going to decide that now is the time to yank the rug out from under the U.S. dollar, and the minute that happens, we’re Greece. And, if we don’t apply the brakes quick enough, we’re Zimbabwe. There’s nothing holding up the joint anymore except the U.S. dollar’s status as global reserve currency, which is basically a decades old legacy from when this was a functioning, commercial republic in which people did not loot the future…
Mark’s latest tome: After America: Get Ready for Armageddon [Amazon link]
Related:
It is now left to the international bond markets to bring discipline to American governance. In due course, they will.
Infographic: The Obama Economy - By The Numbers
I mostly consider myself a libertarian and I was inspired to create the infographic out of a general frustration with the current economic environment. While I don’t solely blame President Obama for this, I do believe his policies have lengthened (and in many ways worsened) this downturn. Although the infographic is implicitly critical of President Obama, I wanted to avoid opinions and evaluate the hard numbers set against statements and promises he has made in the past.
— Web designer and developer John Ekdahl
Been making the rounds.
Empirically, pretty damning.
Recall:
If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.
— Barack Obama, 2009
Just For Reference™
Click through for the high-res version.
![[Infographic] The Obama Presidency - By The Numbers](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6028/6196456311_6b68be17bb_o.png)
(Source: The Atlantic)
Sirius Lithium playlist just now:
Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror
Nine Inch Nails - Closer
Smashing Pumpkins - Zero
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name
Bush - Machine Head
Epic. EPIC ride so far. 90’s adolescence in a nutshell. And then…
The Offspring - [No idea because I never listened to this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad band.]
Say it with me, folks:
“The Offspring is a terrible band.”
“The Offspring is a terrible band.”
“The Offspring is a terrible band…”
New Faultline Discovered
Breaking News: It’s just been established by the administration that the DC earthquake occurred on a rare and obscure faultline, apparently known as “Bush’s Fault.”
OK. That’s funny.
h/t Michael Yon
Comedian Jamie Kilstein on Conan, February 1, 2011.
Kilstein appeared on Conan Tuesday night with his politically fueled routine, performing a rapid-fire five minutes of material, in which he joked mostly about Barack Obama and George Bush. He fits the mold of most political comedians, appearing composed, only to begin radiating with sneering contempt.
The last line’s a knockout. Wait for it…
(h/t @PaulProvenza)
(Source: thelaughbutton.com)
Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), at her final press conference as House Speaker, January 4, 2010, four years to the day that she took the gavel in 2007 and pledged “no new deficit spending.” (via FoxNation) h/t @memorandum
Reality:
The numbers tell a different story:
When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi’s Speakership on December 22, 2010 the national debt was $13,858,529,371,601.09 - a roughly $5.2 trillion increase in just four years. Furthermore, the year over year federal deficit has roughly quadrupled during Pelosi’s four years as speaker, from $342 billion in fiscal year 2007 to an estimated $1.6 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010.
And via HotAir:
And that doesn’t actually tell the whole story, either. The last budget passed by a Republican Congress spent a total of $2.77 trillion, with a deficit just under $200 billion. Democrats took that in FY2010 — their last actual full-year budget — to over $3.8 trillion, an increase of 38% in just three budget cycles. And when the Democrats finally got around to passing pay-go in their fourth and final year in control of the House, they ended up waiving it in almost every instance afterward.
Just For Reference™
From an earlier post:
Democrats will often blame this on the continued existence of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. However, the CBO reckons that the federal government will only get $4 trillion over the next ten years if all of the Bush tax cuts expire, as they are set to do on December 31 of this year. That ten-year revenue (which is itself highly debatable) still wouldn’t have covered all of the deficit spending Democrats did while in control of Congress in just four years. In fact, at their rate of deficit spending in three budget cycles, Democrats would add almost $15 trillion to the national debt in ten years:
Republicans in control for 12 years: Added $4.034 trillion (avg $336.17 billion per year)
Republicans in control during Bush era: Added $3.201 trillion (avg $533.5 billion per year)
Democrats in control of Congress during Bush/Obama era: Added $4.603 trillion (avg 1.48 trillion per year)
Democrats did not aim to control spending when they took control of Congress. They aimed to expand government at a historic rate, and they succeeded beyond even their wildest dreams. And what happened when Democrats finally got around to passing pay-go, more than three years later? They made more exceptions to it than bills that actually got the pay-go treatment.
This is exactly why voters can’t trust Democrats on spending, deficits, and taxes.
Again, to those that point to the Hastert years, and reprimanding, ask where the Tea Party-type/fiscal hawks were then — they were at the voting booth. When their elected representatives acted irresponsibly, the electorate called them on it.
The electorate, unsurprisingly, did the same on November 2 of last year.
Conclusion:
The last crop of Republicans on spending: Bad.
The last crop of Democrats on spending: Worse.
The new GOP class took over (just) the House yesterday. We’ll see how they do.
I’m not holding my breath, but we’re all watching you. How ‘bout you surprise us, for a change?
Previously:
Debt Has Increased $5 Trillion Since Speaker Pelosi Vowed, ‘No New Deficit Spending’ in 2007
The real problem: spending, not revenue.
Historical U.S. Federal Budget data via cbo.gov
Paul McCartney takes dig at former President George W. Bush, comes off like partisan tool at a nonpartisan event held to honor him for his music.
President Barack Obama presented Paul McCartney the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Wednesday night. McCartney is the first person who is not American to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
He remarked that “After the last eight years, it’s great to have a president who knows what a library is.”
We love you, Paul. No need to be such a nipple.
And, after the last seven years, it would be nice to have a rock legend who knows what the internet is.
Related:
April 28, 2003 - Apple Launches the iTunes Music Store
Funny:
Paul McCartney Receives White House Pardon for Post-Beatles Work
Peggy Noonan: He Was Supposed to Be Competent
I don’t see how the president’s position and popularity can survive the oil spill. This is his third political disaster in his first 18 months in office. And they were all, as they say, unforced errors, meaning they were shaped by the president’s political judgment and instincts.
There was the tearing and unnecessary war over his health-care proposal and its cost. There was his day-to-day indifference to the views and hopes of the majority of voters regarding illegal immigration. And now the past almost 40 days of dodging and dithering in the face of an environmental calamity. I don’t see how you politically survive this.…
The original sin in my view is that as soon as the oil rig accident happened the president tried to maintain distance between the gusher and his presidency. He wanted people to associate the disaster with BP and not him. When your most creative thoughts in the middle of a disaster revolve around protecting your position, you are summoning trouble. When you try to dodge ownership of a problem, when you try to hide from responsibility, life will give you ownership and responsibility the hard way. In any case, the strategy was always a little mad. Americans would never think an international petroleum company based in London would worry as much about American shores and wildlife as, say, Americans would. They were never going to blame only BP, or trust it.
Read the full Op-Ed piece here.
