For FY 2009, though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009. Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period: (See below)
In other words, if the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is, “I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since taking office on January 20th, 2008.”
We did have one response to this post, but the commenter didn't have the cojones to sigh their name. Too bad... I would have loved to respond to the outlandish accusation made by the poster.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it's our policy that if you don't have the courage to sign your name to what you write, it doesn't get published.
The budgets of the republicans did NOT include the cost of two unneeded wars caused by Bush.
ReplyDeleteI am Chris in Montreal, SirLoinn@Yahoo.com, I don't use any on the accounts mentioned below.
ReplyDelete1) It seems you left out the roll played by Rogue Wall Street Bankers and other legel thieves in nearly burying the World Economy...and the unique role only Gov't could possibly play in averting a massive Global Depression:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meltdown/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid
2) You also omitted all the secret borrowing and spending that W.Bush did,including how he fired 2 Cabinet members for trying to tell him he was spending money that didn't exist. At the same time, a case can be made based on borrowing/spending trends since Reagan took Office in 1980...that Republicans have been buying Elections since 1980 with all the promises their constituents wanted to hear-and then secretly paying for it with borrowed money:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tentrillion/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid
3) And you neglected to mention how Alan Greenspan and friends played an enormous role in how all these dominos got stacked up: 20 years of Republican-based policy making that ended in disaster and admission of gross errors: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/view/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid
Chris in Montreal,SirLoinn@Yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI would also agree in part with Mr.Blodgett. Bush manufactured the reasons for invading Iraq to suit himself...one almost wonders if he had a bone to pick with Saddam for the latter's attempt on the former's father's life?
There were No Al Qaeda in Iraq prior to Bush's invasion: Al Qaeda is a Fundamentalist Jihadi/ Revolutionary network and Saddam's Iraq were a Secular, Political/Economic Dictatorship.
The Two Hated Eachother.
There were;however,many thousands of Al Qaeda in Iraq following W.Bush's invasion.
On the subject of staged invasions...let's not forget how that 'touching horror story' about Iraqi Troops removing premature babies from their incubators and then stealing the medical equipment in Kuwaiti Hospitals in 1991,at the start of planning for the 1st Gulf War,was faked by the American Military.
Later journalistic investigation via eyewitnesses showed no incubators taken at that time, no babies removed from life support by Iraqi Soldiers...and the nurse who gave the 'shocking testimony' had never been a nurse in Kuwait. She was later discovered to be a Jordanian actress hired by the US.
It seems to me that the posters here have conveniently ignored the main point. The Democrats have controlled Congress — and therefore spending — since 2007. Obama was part of that Congress.
ReplyDeleteThat has NOTHING to do with the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. But even if it did, who approved the spending for those wars? The same Democratic controlled Congress, of which Obama was a member.
This isn't rocket science folks. Stop trying to blame Bush and justify the mess Obama and Congress has spent us into.
Chris in Montreal / SirLoinn@Yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you ignored my first post, which did deal directly with your point.
My second post was only a comment on the other gent's point.
It appears you may not have the cojones to publish the 3 links to PBS Frontline I refered you to.
For those who may want to look it up for themselves...the titles of the pertinent Frontline reports are:
1) Meltdown - Rogue Bankers drive World to brink of Massive Depression
2) 10 Trillion & Counting - American Administrations have been borrowing $ to pay for election promises non-stop since 1980. Reagan tripled standing Debt in 1st year. US Debt approached $11T by end of W.Bush era.
3) The Warning - One Gov't leader stood up and warned US of the eventual 2008 Meltdown, in 1998. This remarkable report culminates with Alan Greenspan admitting before Congress, on camera, that 20 yrs of Republican deregulation was a mistake.
No Chris in Montreal, your first comment wasn't published because you sent it anoymously with no identy about who you might be — and we don't post those kind of comments.
ReplyDeleteAnnual tax revenue of the US government is about $2.5 trillion dollars.
ReplyDeleteThe real solution to the debt issue is to double taxes. That way in a mere four years we'd cancel $10 trillion of debt. Why did the Republican party insist on keeping the Bush tax code in place? Debt is created when you spend more than you take in. There are two ways to solve the problem. One is to spend less. The other is to earn more. The government only earns money through taxes. But since Reagan's administration, the Republican party has insisted on lowering taxes, especially on those who have profited most from the principles and standards of this country.
Most of the cuts needed involve cuts in Social Security, Federal pension obligations and VA benefits. The amount that Congress squables over is nothing compared to what has to be addressed. And I say the ONLY solution is to raise taxes.
Chris in Montreal / SirLoinn@Yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr Coppola for presenting an open Forum.
I apologise for any omission on my 1st post, I thot I had noted my Web identity correctly, thou I do not put personal info into computers, as a precautionary habit.
Allow me to add 2 brief points to my comments.
1) In the Frontline/PBS report "10 Trillion & Counting". Please note W.Bush's firing of 2 Federal Cabinet Members who tried to tell the Pres. he was spending money that didn't exist.
2) In the same report, please note how Bush, Cheney & Rumsfeld went out of their way to pay for numerous budget overruns with "Supplementals". Additions to the budget that are controled only by the President, do not need to be approved by anyone, and do not appear directly in day to day budgetary records.
I am not an American, I have no direct interest in this discussion. I'm offering comment as an amateur history buff.
Thanks