Your Karma Ran Over My Obama

The Hill newspaper reports that as Congress comes back into session after a forty day recess, the Senate has to start moving on legislation to raise the nation's debt limit to a record $12.1 trillion.

Democrats in control of Congress, including then-Sen. Obama (Ill.), blasted President George W. Bush for failing to contain spending when he oversaw increased deficits and raised the debt ceiling.

“Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Obama said in a 2006 floor speech that preceded a Senate vote to extend the debt limit. “America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”

Because the federal government spends more money than it takes in every single year, it must raise the amount of debt it's allowed to hold under federal law every single year.

When President Bush was in the White House and Republicans controlled Congress, Democrats would push for more federal spending, but then complain about the debt ceiling vote, blaming the mounting debt on tax cuts. When Democrats took control of Congress, they kept pushing spending higher, and Republicans complained long and loud on the day of the debt ceiling vote. This is despite many of those Republicans supporting the out-of-control spending that required the debt increase in the first place.

In a show of abject political grandstanding, Barack Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling as a U.S. Senator. I'm sure his rhetoric will cool down a little after he's increased the federal deficit at a record pace.

Sen. Gregg on the threat of debt

Judd Gregg marks the nation's debt reaching one trillion dollars on the Senate floor:

Hattip: Union Leader

I like C-SPAN's beta video player. It's mission to let the public see its government at work. It makes sense to let them do that on their monitors as well as their televisions.

A great way to look at the National Debt

Sen. Judd Gregg: The U.S. is taking on more debt than it can handle

Sen. Judd Gregg pens a column in the Union Leader concerning the record debt being run up in Washington:

By the end of this fiscal year, our publicly held debt will be about 57 percent of GDP. This is not a good situation, but a temporary spike in debt can be managed, just as it was in the past when we were facing the crises of World Wars I and II, the Civil War and the War of Independence. In those instances, debt was rapidly paid off during the postwar periods.

Under President Obama's budget plan for the nation, this debt will not be rapidly paid off once the recession ends. Instead, it will continue to mushroom, driven by the President's new proposed spending that we cannot afford, which comes on top of looming entitlement spending we are already facing as the baby boom generation moves into retirement.

Because of this spending, we will have budget shortfalls, or deficits, averaging $1 trillion each year for the next 10 years.

In which the pot offers fashion advice to the kettle...

The Washington Post reports on Fed Chair Ben Bernacke's testimony to Congress calling for fiscal restraint:

The nation needs to begin planning now to eventually bring taxes and spending in line, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said yesterday, arguing that large budget deficits, if sustained, could deepen the financial crisis and choke off the economy.

Bernanke's testimony to Congress reflected growing concern among economists and investors that the nation's long-term fiscal imbalances could stand in the way of economic recovery by driving up the interest rates that the government, businesses and consumers pay to borrow money. The rate the government pays has already risen in recent weeks.

Hey, here's an idea for fiscal discipline. Stop spending so much.


The so-called stimulus, both in terms of the Congressional park package and the massive corporate welfare bailouts have caused more harm by undermining the nation's fiscal health than any Keynsian boost they could have delivered. If you're worried about deficits, stop spending so much:

U.S. Debt tops $668,000 per household

The average American household has nearly $122,000 in debt. USA Today has done the math for us. That includes car payments, college loans, and mortgages, but that's still a lot.

Until you compare it to the $547,000 in debt that our government has wrung up for every American household.

But remember, Timothy Geithner says that "No one is going to be more concerned about future deficits than we are.”

Hattip: Daniel Indiviglio

Not exactly breaking news

The Financial Times reports "Exploding debt threatens America":

Under President Barack Obama’s budget plan, the federal debt is exploding. To be precise, it is rising – and will continue to rise – much faster than gross domestic product, a measure of America’s ability to service it. The federal debt was equivalent to 41 per cent of GDP at the end of 2008; the Congressional Budget Office projects it will increase to 82 per cent of GDP in 10 years. With no change in policy, it could hit 100 per cent of GDP in just another five years.

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