Spending money like it can just print the stuff, the federal government has squandered slightly more than $1 trillion through the first nine months of this fiscal year. What’s so bad about that? Every dollar was borrowed or printed, that’s what. According to CNNMoney.com’s Catherine Clifford, “By the end of fiscal 2009, the government expects to be in debt by $1.84 trillion.” For fiscal 2009 alone. Total 2009 expenditures will “approach $4 trillion while income will only be $2.16 trillion.” Don’t try this at home.
The hand wringing in Washington that used to accompany ballooning deficits has been replaced by imperious snobbery. President Obama and several key Democrats have argued that wasting hundreds of billions was the right thing to do. Typical is this snort from Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Referring to the ineffective $787 billion stimulus bill, Brown said, “It would be worse if we hadn’t done it.” Like hell. The combined negative drag of borrowing and frittering away three-quarters of a trillion and then paying interest on the vast sum until Gehenna freezes over will overwhelm any positive impact an amount that large should have. Besides, the worst policy in history could be justified by the “inaction would have been worse” argument. Such an assertion cannot be proved nor disproved.
Next year’s budget is projected to include another deficit of $1.26 trillion. How long do these guys think this can go on? By the end of Obama’s term, the federal debt will exceed $15 trillion. I’m not sure which is worse: that our political class could be so irresponsible or that we average Americans let them get away with it. Perhaps we simply don’t understand how much one trillion dollars really is. So, in the interest of educating those of us who will pay the interest on the debt, here’s a link you really need to click on:
http://deliveriesgalore.com/2009/03/18/one-trillion-dollars/
A trillion dollars fits neatly on ten thousand pallets, each weighing about 1,100 pounds, stacked with $100 bills. That’s roughly 5,500 tons of $100 bills. And that’s just $1 trillion, about half of this year’s deficit. If the American people fully understand what that amount of debt will do to the value of the dollar and inflation rates, and continue to do nothing to stop the madness, then I guess we’ll get what we deserve.
One thing is certain. We can’t depend on anyone in Washington to close the spending hole. The Republicans failed to do so under George W. Bush, and now President Obama and the Democratic Congress are making the Republicans look frugal. Obama has recently announced plans to spend more on college tuitions and mortgage relief. Every dawn brings new ideas of how to misuse more money. There is no amount of debt the feds won’t pile upon us and following generations.
Our next chance to bring about change we can live with is in 2010. Trimming or eliminating the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate at the mid-term election is vital to — without saying too much — the nation’s survival. For everyone’s sake, vote conservative.
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Budgets, Obama Presidency