48 Comments

1. David Thomson:

“Republicans have received hugely negative media coverage which has sought to paint them as the party of “no”…”

The reality is that “no” is often the proper response. Progressive Republican Herbert Hoover was the first economic activist president in our country’s entire history. The man, contrary to popular opinion, was contemptuous of laissez faire capitalism. Franklin D. Roosevelt was merely Hoover on steroids. The American public was conned by a very left-wing and government influenced media and intellectual class to believe that politicians should “do something” during an economic downturn. It is very difficult to destroy the idiotic myth that FDR “saved capitalism.” Nonetheless, this is exactly what we must do. This is a struggle that cannot be avoided.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:29 am 2. Joe C.:

All one has to do is look at the stock market’s recent surge to see how effective “no” is. As Doh!-bama’s legislative failures mount, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P go up — card check — DOA; cap & trade — DOA; financial and industrial nationalization — KIA; 90% tax on bonuses — KIA; GM and Chrysler bailouts — KIA (heading to bankruptcy, which is what should have happened in the first place); G-20 agenda — KIA.

As the conservatives pile up significant (if unreported) victory after victory, the stock market climbs. As the attempted thwarting of a recovery likewise gets buffeted, confidence continues to up-tick. All this shows that the “Chicken Littles” from September on were wrong and none of the “stimulus” was needed as the recovery occurs before a single dime has been spent — other than the TARP I, which wasn’t needed either.

Apr 6, 2009 - 5:20 am 3. DaveinPhoenix:

For a country with a negative net worth of $59 trillion, it’s a little strange to be asking who won the budget battle.

Apr 6, 2009 - 5:58 am 4. Old Soldier:

I don’t know who won politically. I just know that my family, especially my kids, lost badly.

Apr 6, 2009 - 6:44 am 5. David W. Lincoln:

“A discredited Prime Minister of a discredit government”. Roughly 3 minutes that is a rally point, and it came from Europe.

Apr 6, 2009 - 8:15 am 6. AThinkingPerson:

Have to agree with Old Soldier. All tax-paying Americans have lost, especially my family and friends.

Apr 6, 2009 - 8:18 am 7. Sebastian Shaw:

The recent stock market surge is a false dawn since it is a result of the government relaxing Mark to Market. President Obama & tax cheat, Timothy Geithner are still going to make the stock market plummet with their Marxist plans.

President Obama’s dream for a Marxist State is just realigning the Republicans to re-embrace Conservative ideas.

The RINO’s are going to flushed out in 2010 with the corrupt Democrats in the congressional elections.

Stagflation is coming thanks to Barack Obama’s so-called “stimulus” package along with his budget. It’s only a matter of time.

Apr 6, 2009 - 8:53 am 8. David W. Lincoln:

Whoops, that should have been, “The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government”.

3 minutes that will prove to be as consequential
as the 5 minutes at Midway which saw the destruction of at least 3 aircraft carriers of the Japanese Imperial Navy.

Apr 6, 2009 - 9:53 am 9. Mike J.:

Bill Kristol?? Who the heck listens to Bill kristol anymore? He’s been thoroughly discredited. That’s why he got canned.

Apr 6, 2009 - 11:48 am 10. JED:

How much does one need to know when the phrase “3.4 trillion dollar experiment” is used which, although untested, is supposed to make all of our lives better.

Apr 6, 2009 - 11:59 am 11. Bill Miller:

Is Jennifer Rubin the second coming of Hugh Hewitt and Sean Hannity? Puh-leaze. How about some factual journalism instead of more hackitude from the party who is currently led by Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele, Sarah Palin and John Boehner. Even Newt now wants to bolt. Look out below!

Apr 6, 2009 - 12:15 pm 12. valwayne:

Obama’s celebrity promenade through Europe playing to the crowds by putting down his own country is a sign of trouble for Obama. For now he is being treated like a demi-god by the press while he completes his parade of celebrity. However, the reality is that 663,000 working Americans lost their jobs in March, thanks to Obama’s scare tactics passing the AIG bonus guarantee bill, and the unemployment rate for working Americans rose to 8.5%. And in foreign policy the N. Koreans showed how impressed they were with Obama’s cult of celebrity by testing a ballistic missile. Sooner or later no matter how much the press protects him Jimmy Obama’s policies are going to bring the country crashing into reality.

Apr 6, 2009 - 12:17 pm 13. Bill:

We are spending TOO MUCH!!!! I read this article that talked about the inflationary consequences of the $3 trillion budget…check it out

Apr 6, 2009 - 12:22 pm 14. Dutch:

Reading that Goldman Sachs receives preferential treatment in Obama’s plan for toxic assets, I can’t help to think of Obama’s boast during the elections. On economics he could count on the support of Warren Buffett, the man who bailed out Goldman Sachs in September. But that would be too obvious, wouldn’t it?

Apr 6, 2009 - 12:27 pm 15. russ:

The Two Party System worked for a while did it not? Now we get to see what America looks like with One Party Rule. I’m predicting it will be ugly. I’m talkin’ fascist ugly.

Apr 6, 2009 - 12:38 pm 16. John:

Rubin alas has zero objectivity. And I mean absolutely zero. Obama’s budget has passed both houses and is now in reconciliation essentially horsetrading between democratic factions. It’s going to emerge with some changes but essentially giving him 90% of what he wants. This is so completely obvious to even the most obtuse you have to wonder what makes Rubin write a piece like this. Is she really that dense or has she retreated into that unreality that is increasingly becoming the hallmark of the GOP.

Apr 6, 2009 - 12:47 pm 17. JohnR22:

Obama has pushed too hard too fast with this budget. He should have focused on stimulus spending to fix the economy…with maybe one additional “big” initiative…Health Care IMO. He should have waited on Energy (Cap & Trade) and Education. There’s simply no way those swing voters who elected him are going to stand still for a tripling of the national debt in 10 yrs. And for what? Vague promises by a Federal Govt that can’t even deliver the daily mail, that the trillions spent will actually produce something of benefit. As usual, we’ll get pennies worth of services for dollars worth of taxes paid.

Apr 6, 2009 - 1:19 pm 18. Jack:

Not only did he get what he wanted, the Republicans lost their ability to complain about what he did when they came up with their own $17 trillion budget.

Jack

Apr 6, 2009 - 1:32 pm 19. Black Saint:

The Democrats under Obama, Reid & Nancy are intending to bankrupt the USA & then they can complete the ghettoizing of the rest of the USA population, the same way they did the blacks population, get most of the Nation on welfare beholden to the Democrat party and they have an lock on power forever!

It has worked very successfully with the blacks, now with amnesty for the 20 to 30 million, invading illegal aliens alone with chain immigration for their relatives & their relatives in an never ending chain means within a few years over 200 million , uneducated, welfare loving, gang joining, fast breeding Hispanics! This combined with the black population and you have an Socialist Third World Welfare state, controlled lock, stock and barrel by the Democrat party!

Long live the Dear Leaders Obama, Reid & Nancy!

Apr 6, 2009 - 1:44 pm 20. righty:

Let’s wait until after the Tea Parties on April 15th to get a read on how the voters feel about the budget battle. Yeah, laugh if you will but Americans of all party lines are participating in this outcry. It will be evident at the ballot boxes from here on in. We little folks don’t give a whit about the credibility of politicians. We want to oust them all and start over.

Apr 6, 2009 - 1:45 pm 21. Black Saint:

As usual all the world,s problems are American,s fault! What makes it so bad is this view is shared and proclaimed by most American Politicians and especially our President! When will this Nation get Politicians that put American Citizens and this Nation first and let other Nations take care of their own problems?

It seems like our Politicians of both parties want American to apologize & American tax payers to pay and be accountable for every Corrupt Nation, Crook, Greedy bankers, Welfare leeches, Peons, Criminals, All Disease including AID,s, and Marxist & Racist Hate organizations like ACORN, & La Raza in the world!

While every article on the USA and Mexico,s relations points out how the USA is failing Mexico & Latin American little is ever said about Mexico,s & Latin Americans policy to send their Criminals and poverty North for American tax payers to support!

It is official polity, seeming, on both sides of the border and else where in the world to blame everything on the USA and never point out the far more serious crimes against this Nation by Mexico & its Citizens!

The remittance monies Mexico receives from it invading horde of Illegal Aliens from the USA is right up there with drugs and oil. Illegal Aliens blessed, encouraged & assisted in crossing the border and violate USA sovereignty by the Mexican Government. Transporting Illegal Aliens across the border is also an big source of income for the drug cartels, but no attempt is made by the Mexican government to even slow down the invading horde because of the remittances received. Transport of Mexico’s Criminals & Uneducated peons to the USA for American citizens to support and be the victims as they Rob, Rape and Kill Americans citizens at an rate Bin Laden and the terrorist can only dream about. It also relives the pressure of over population, uncontrollable breeding & poverty in Mexico and a possible revolution by its citizens!

It should be acknowledged that the invasion is also supported by American Politicians pandering for the Latino vote. The USA constitution, Article IV Section IV against invasion, The rule of Law and their Oath of office seems to be of little value or hindrances to nearly all of the Democrats including POTUS and many of the Republican politicians!

Welfare votes and cheap labor are more important than our Constitution, the rule of Law, or the future of this Nation and the Welfare of American citizens to politicians on both sides of the border!

Poll after poll shows Americans citizens want our borders closed and our laws enforced! American Citizens have about had it with both Mexico and its invading horde of fast breeding, welfare loving parasites & the corrupt politicians that support them!

Until corrupt/pandering/worthless politicians on both sides of the border are held accountable and forced to obey their Constitution, The Rule of Law, and the selling out of their Nation and citizens for bribes where it be by drug cartels in Mexico or lobbyist in the USA, or in the pursuit of votes, cheap labor, or any other reason that is counter to and in conflict with the Constitution & the Rule of Law, the deterioration of our nations and increases in Crime, Corruption, Poverty and Misery for its citizens will continue!

Apr 6, 2009 - 1:49 pm 22. Mark:

New Zealand or Australia are looking pretty good right now. Does anybody have any recommendations for countries to relocate to? It is a sad day when after having conservatives defeat the Marxists from abroad we are going to lose the country to them from within. Oh well, it has been a great 233 years.

Apr 6, 2009 - 2:03 pm 23. AThinkingPerson:

Mark… No need to give up hope yet. I’d suggest reading through some of the liberal posts here and realizing that they are imploding. You can smell the hysteria in their one-line diatribes. I’m guessing Obamaprompter is getting harder and harder to defend, thus the mounting anger coming out of the left.

Be patient, be alert, be willing to speak out and hold tight to what the founding fathers’ vision of this country was to be and the mid-terms will be here before we know it. Until then, hide your folding money and keep a copy of the Constitution somewhere where your liberal neighbors can’t find it (they have a tendency to want to destroy it at all costs).

Apr 6, 2009 - 2:29 pm 24. Obama’s Budget Battle « Meltdown Mania:

[...] 6, 2009 by Nero Who won? In the short term, taxpayers lost.

Apr 6, 2009 - 2:31 pm 25. Gary Gross:

I pointed out in this post that President Obama’s’ extremism will hurt Democrats in 2010:

http://www.letfreedomringblog.com/?p=4203

What appeal does Cap & Trade have? What appeal does nationalizing banks have? What appeal do record-setting deficits have? Here’s the most important question, though:

How hard are you willing to work or how much can you afford to give to get conservatives elected in 2010?

Apr 6, 2009 - 2:38 pm 26. DaveA:

Yes some of Obama’s top economists were “advising” and giving speaches to some of the banks credited for putting us under but where the hell do you expect to find the best economic minds of our time. Why is it so hard to understand that some of the smartest economists we have would want to make money off of what they know? That kinda plays into the idea of being smart, you make money.

As for spending “too much.” NO! If anything we are spending to little. Spending, whether we have the money or not is the only proven method for getting out of a depression. It wasn’t the New Deal that saved us, it was the even greater spending of WWII that did. Yes we are putting a tax on the generations to come but an even greater tax would be to immediately return to fiscal conservatisn, an action, that if it were to happen in 2010 or 2012 would surely prolong this depression even further.

What is necessary is the massive spending of WWII in public works programs and green technology minus the millions of deathes. Upon stabilization of the markets we must do what we failed to do in the past- return to fiscal conservatism, lower taxes and pay off much of the debt. Lastly regulation of the markets to ensure the end of short selling as well as mortgage backed securities to ensure that the dangerous excesses of the 1920’s or 1990’s-00’s don’t return.

And as for the that massive debt, as a member of the next generation who you feel oh so bad for, I am certainly willing to pay my share of it, and if it were to go as outlined above it wouldn’t even be much of a problem.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:03 pm 27. Samizdat:

I note that Bill Miller at # 11 employs no facts in his attack on the author of this piece. He also incorrectly states that Rush Limbaugh is a leader of the Republican party. Rush Limbaugh is a conservative, not a Republican. The Republicans for the most part are difficult to distinguish from Democrats as near as I can tell. When they held majority power they spent like drunks and failed to fix the Fannie Mae Freddie Mac oversite problem. To me most of them seem like Democrat lite. It explains much about why they are so weakened.
All that aside,a minority of intelligent Democrats realize how dangerous this budget could be in the long run. Kent Conrad and several others realize that if the economy doesn’t grow robustly and inflation kicks up. they could become vulnerable. They also understand that because the Treasury Dept and the Fed are printing money and pursuing a relaxed money policy inflation as recovery occurs is a likely event. That could snuff any recovery quickly as Bernanke will have to raise Fed interest rates rapidly to mitigate inflation.
These scenarios are what have a minority of Democrat Congress members concerned. John at # 16 is right that the budget is likely to pass with about 90% of what the President wants in it. The more fiscally consious Democrats see the problems that are likely to occur down the road. The liberal majority either doesn’t understand or thinks they can get away with it anyway.
American’s remember prosperity and what it is like. If inflation hits and recovery is less than robust, independent voters are going to begin to vote against the Democrats they have been voting for in the last two election cycles. Rubin is correctly pointing out the vulnerability. Too bad Bill Miller at # 11 can only offer an ad hominem retort instead of some cogent analysis of why Rubin is wrong.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:09 pm 28. Mike Scarborough:

Someone resuscitate me….I had no idea that there were any logical, rational and coherent thought-forming people left in this country. The kool-aid sippers absolutely astound me; they REFUSE to form any kind of opinion on their own or reach a logical conclusion using REASONING as the basis for their opinion. They always use “George Bush ran us into the ground” or “George Bush is stupid” or my personal favorite “CHANGE” for their rebuttals for any ABOMINATION campaign promise or policy. Seriously, interrogate them as to how they REASONED out their opinions and they will immediately attempt to discredit either ABOMINATION’s predecessor or his challenger.

Liberals just refuse to believe they can form opinions based on deductive reasoning. I’m a student at the University of Miami and it absolutely embarrassed me that my peers wouldn’t dedicate the time to understand the “cause and effect” of both candidates political propositions.

I will give liberals this though; they were smart enough to understand the potential impact of the civil rights movement for the next 50 years. Republicans were indifferent towards the civil rights movement because we focused our energy on making this country run at its greatest efficiency(I still love the look on liberals faces when I mention the equity vs. efficiency argument). Democrats, at the time, couldn’t fathom making such complicated decisions so they went for plan B: support the civil rights movement and persuade minorities to join their cause.(How quickly did African Americans forget that the Southern proponents of slavery were THOROUGHLY Democrat). At the same time, mainstream media exploded onto the national scene along with a sense of the initial political correction required to popularize said media due to “new” ideas of civil liberties. Add it all up and what do we have? A media conglomerate bent on being politically correct rather reporting factual accounts and observable events without distortion.

On another note, I’m not eligible to represent Florida’s 22nd congressional district until 2014 when I turn 25. Rest assured for the 2016 election cycle, my name will be on the ballot. Quick question, do you think my campaign slogan FOR A SMARTER AMERICA, will appeal to enough voters in inherently democratic Broward county to win me the seat? Our party is in dire need of up-and-coming young politicians who will stand up for classic conservative values and uphold the Constitution in the highest regards. I’m tired of our party being the laughing stock of the political landscape.

Here’s to rationality overtaking willful ignorance as the primary determinant of “qualified” candidates.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:15 pm 29. Delia:

23. AThinkingPerson,

AMEN! You hit it on the nail head, ATP!

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:25 pm 30. Derek:

A) Cap and trade can be enacted with or without Congress.

B) As much as you’d like to use baseless speculation to presume Obama is getting nowhere on healthcare, the fact is, all related healthcare bills for the rest of the year will probably only require 51 votes from the Senate. Which means if it was going to happen at all, it’s going to happen this year.

I mean seriously… the moderate dems lost this battle to Obama. 9 senators in Bayh’s moderate democrat group. Including Bayh, only 2 of those people voted against Obama’s budget. Declaring that anything less then an Obama victory is simply burying your head in the sand.

More reality for the folks out there:

http://www.pollster.com/polls/us/jobapproval-obama.php

Obama’s approval has been trending up for the past few weeks.

It isn’t campaign time so I really don’t understand the point in complete partisan hackery right now. The quicker political realities are accepted, they quicker they can be dealt with.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:33 pm 31. Samizdat:

Hey Mike Scarbourough,
If we had more deductive thinkers like you in the party I might still be a Republican. Unfortunately, the Republicans saw fit to turn away from conservative principals and ignore people like my wife and I. They saw an advantage in Democrat lite and a disadvatage in conservative principal. I resigned from the RNC as a result and took my money with me. I only vote and support conservatives now. The Republican party is unlikely to ever see another dime from me.
I tell you this so that you can gain an understanding of how business needs to be conducted politically. I have a long memory for disloyalty. Good luck running for Congress, and never compromise your principals.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:41 pm 32. Jerry:

It would go along why toward fixing health care and social security if we forced our elected officals and government employees to be on the same programs as we have. Right now they could care less because they have their own top of the line programs.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:42 pm 33. Peter:

Obama has the momentum of the election and the support from a large majority of the electorate. While there is less support for his policies, particularly domestic policies, chances are his personal appeal will result in Dems passing a budget that includes most of his wish list. While the costs will be high and the payoff will be hard to discern for some time to come, the anger at the GOP has not abated and people are willing to give Dems far longer, in my opinion, than conservatives might think is possible to fix the problems.

My guess is that with so much spending there will be an uptick to the economy, though not one that is sustained. This, along with the ability of Dems to continue suggesting that they have inherited a world of troubles, true, and need time to address them, just might allow them not only to retain their mid-term majority status but to increase it.

Conservatives need to find a whole new way to communicate their ideas and articulate a philosophy in order to succeed. Telling liberals how wrong they are, pointing out the hyprocrisy of the current Administration and Congress, where corruption is also now rampant, is simply insufficient in the current situation where people are only paying attention to the economy and its affect on their personal lives.

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:46 pm 34. Change They Will Keep Waiting For « The Rhetorican:

[...] PJM’s Jennifer Rubin sees Obama losing the budget battle and Slate’s Mike Madden sees the GOP winning the deficits-are-bad message [...]

Apr 6, 2009 - 3:52 pm 35. Samizdat:

Ok Derek at # 30 I’ll bite, fill us in on how Cap and Trade passes without a Congressional vote.
I don’t believe it curently falls under EPA mandate at this time. CO2 is the targeted gas for regulation and it is not currently listed as a pollutant, at least not to my knowledge. Under our Constitution Cap and Trade would be construed to be a tax and only Congress has the power to levy taxes, not the EPA.I will be interested to know why I am wrong.
While your at it, I would like to know if CO2 levels have fluctuated up or down over the history of our planet. Since the last Ice age has earth’s mean temperature been higher than it is now? I also request that you produce the model that demonstrates anthropogenc global warming is a scientific fact.Further, I would like to know which is the greater threat, global warming or global cooling and specifically which event will kill more species and people.
Looking forward to your reply.

Apr 6, 2009 - 4:09 pm 36. Samizdat:

Jerry,
God bless you, you just drove the nail through the board.
If your observation about the elite’s in Congress creating two sets of rules, one for them and another, less favorable, for the rest of us were analogised as a baseball home run the ball would still be going up and would long since have unchained its self from the effects of earths gravity.
I have such contempt for our, so called, masters in Washington’s continuous resort to the old double standard that man kind has yet to develope a device that could measure it. That goes for both Democrats and Republicans. They are each equally worthless and quite parasitic when examined closely.
Jerry, you made my day. I realise that I am not alone. Maybe when inflation kicks in and the economy really tanks more people will see what you do. Only Congress and government will be prospering then.

Apr 6, 2009 - 4:26 pm 37. Debbieqd:

“…then that opposition will become a badge of honor and the starting point for a platform for the future: less government pork, more support for private sector job growth, no crony capitalism, and an end to government bailouts. In that sense, the Obama budget may be good news indeed — for Republicans.”

You’re kidding, right? A future platform with no crony capitalism in the Republican Party? I haven’t read an article in a month’s time with so much wishful thinking in it. One more news bulletin: Obama isn’t losing the budget battle. But, keep dreaming; you seem to be enjoying it.

Apr 6, 2009 - 5:27 pm 38. Samizdat:

DaveA,
I know that I have an inordinate number of posts regarding this thread, but I had to respond to yours at # 26. What you advocate is pure Keynes, the heroin of spending what you don’t have now for todays high tied to the promise that you will detox tommorow after a couple more 10 cc of the black tar. You say we have to have this fix.
I can agree that stimulus can help, but not as you suggest. It must be timely, targeted and temporary; Larry Summer’s words, not mine. 90 % of those who wish to work are employed at his time. If you cut their taxes for 2009-2010 by 5% that sends a powerful economic signal that all can plan around. It creates a much smaller deficit than Congress and the President are creating. Business rebounds. You couple that with some targeted government spending, pipelined highway projects, and other monies that can be spent in the next 12 mmonths and you will accelerate economic recovery. Those who are employed have more take home pay each week and will spend it. That inevitably employs others. It happened in 1965, 1982 and 2002, each time producing a prolonged period of growth and wealth creation.
Someday the liberals are going to figure out that the way to get the revenue they need for the expansion of the welfare state lies in expanding the economy. That happens only through the celebration of capitalism, not the antagonism of wealth.
I suspect the difference between you and me is that you are a Krugman Keynsian and I am Laffer conservative. I will put the track record of growth my way up against growth your way any day of the week. The only way to get rid of deficit drag on GDP is to create wealth if stimulus is applied. The key is the expansion of the private sector through stimulus, not the expansion of the government. Government spending, without more, can’t create wealth in the long term. When Liberals figure out that the way to get the social programs they want is to create a more robust private sector, they will have turned a corner and will have a more marketable political commodity. That day worries me.
The mistake that the Democrat dominated government is makeing is the misunderstanding that their method will produce the revenue and legitamacy that will permit the expansion of the Clement Atlee transformationm they are seeking. If they could produce wealth expansion by their method at say 4% annually, the revenue would be available to fund all sorts of “do good” programs and the public would accept them because they would percieve little cost personally. This has in fact happened, the amount of government spending increased substantially under Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2. What President Obama and the liberal majority in this Congress don’t understand is how the golden eggs are created. That will catch up with them eventually.If this President and this Congress were ever to embrace and enhance capital creation I shudder to think what they could do to our society. Fortunately, Fabian socialism doesn’t teach these things. That means the backlash is soon to precipitate.
Looking forward to your reply.

Apr 6, 2009 - 7:32 pm 39. go_figure:

Both parties make me want to puke. While the republicans left me the last few years, I am forced to cheer them on as the democrats spend us straight down a hole. If only voters demanded term limits, then we could have some spine in congress rather than reelection obsession.

In the meantime, use this litmus test. If you think your representative would trade their mother/daughter/sister to prostitution for a victory in the next congressional race, its time to vote them out. Or, if they have the twenty year stench about them, its time to vote them out.

Apr 6, 2009 - 7:40 pm 40. carl409:

Republiclans united in a principled way? One only has to point out the way Republicans behaved under Bush and it’s very obvious that they are only saying “no” because they want Obama and the country to fail. We never saw Republican principles in the past 8 years, except to promote more tax cuts, more defense spending and record deficits. This new-found fiscal prudence smacks of sheer hypocrisy.

Apr 6, 2009 - 7:48 pm 41. LH:

Dave…you’re an idiot.

You cannot spend your way out of a recession nor can you borrow your way out of debt. I get this, most people in America that don’t live on credit cards and home equity lines of credit get this and, it appears that most leaders of the EU get this…pull your head out man.

I have spent over twelve years as a scientific researcher….the thing about research…it takes time. Green technologies are largely research projects. Sooooo…if you want to let the government experiment with your taxes, 401K and stock go for it. Personally, I’d prefer to opt out. I’m choosing this option because I know – from EXPERIENCE – that there will be mistakes made, wrong directions taken and millions of dollars spent that we cannot afford to spend at this time on researching green technologies.

Rule of thumb: when the crap is hitting the fan, stick with what we know works…we should experiment when we have time and money to do so.

Obama, Pelosi, Reid and the rest of the jackasses in the House of Representatives should take a few minutes from their busy day of pandering and screwing the US taxpayer to reread their oath of office. They should follow that up with a quick overview of the Constitution….cliff notes might be required for this crew…congressional and excecutive branch action regarding TARP, GM, AIG bonus debacle/bill of attainder are all unconstitutional. Perhaps an impeachment or two would clear things up for people who are so “busy” with the people’s business that they don’t read the legislation they pass.

Apr 6, 2009 - 7:53 pm 42. mrkwong:

As far as I’m concerned almost anything is better than letting Obama crush the country with his climate-fraud foolishness.

Apr 6, 2009 - 9:06 pm 43. Rod:

Last I heard congress approved and Obama signed $3.7 trillion more debt on top of the existing $10 trillion. That means that every taxpaying family of four is in debt for $230,000. How will it be paid? Interest on the debt is $560 billion each year, or about $9000 annually for each taxpaying family.

If the average income is $70k, the average federal tax is about $8000, which is less than the interest on the federal debt. So again, how will it be paid?

Perhaps it will be paid by massive inflation. When the dollar loses value and the debt number remains fixed, payment of the debt becomes easier. This is how the WWII debt was paid off. But for this to happen inflation would have to be severe. Perhaps the dollar would have to lose half or more of its value. Savings accounts and retirement accounts would be reduced by half or more.

Suppose the US just manages to pay interest on the debt by does not experience inflation. Then no money is left for entitlements, etc.

Would it not be better to reduce federal spending rather than increase it? Would it not be better for the government to live within its means, as every family must do.

Apr 6, 2009 - 9:06 pm 44. Rod:

Last I heard congress approved and Obama signed $3.7 trillion more debt on top of the existing $10 trillion. That means that every taxpaying family of four is in debt for $230,000. How will it be paid? Interest on the debt is $560 billion each year, or about $9000 annually for each taxpaying family.

If the average income is $70k, the average federal tax is about $8000, which is less than the interest on the federal debt. So again, how will it be paid?

Perhaps it will be paid by massive inflation. When the dollar loses value and the debt number remains fixed, payment of the debt becomes easier. This is how the WWII debt was paid off. But for this to happen inflation would have to be severe. Perhaps the dollar would have to lose half or more of its value. Savings accounts and retirement accounts would be reduced by half or more.

Suppose the US just manages to pay interest on the debt by does not experience inflation. Then no money is left for entitlements, etc.

Would it not be better to reduce federal spending rather than increase it? Would it not be better for the government to live within its means, as every family must do.

Apr 6, 2009 - 9:08 pm 45. Burke:

So-called Keynsians who think we should spend, and spend, and spend, should go back and see what John Keynes actually said–namely, that the top tax rate should be no higher than 25% and that government spending should be no more than 25% of GDP. Moreover, in 1942, he concluded that he had been wrong about big public works projects as a stimulus, because they take too much time to get going.

One of the reasons WWII was a stimulus is that the government wound up returning a lot of money to the private sector–steel mills, arms manufacturers, railroads, some textile mills–all were running at full capacity, as we armed and clothed millions of soldiers.

I lived through the 1970’s , and remember well the kind of economy that was produced by high taxes and massive government spending. It wasn’t pretty. I also remember how quickly Reagan’s tax cuts turned the whole thing around, for almost everybody.

Apr 7, 2009 - 5:07 am 46. just passing through:

Who Won the Budget Battle?

I don’t know who won, but I do know I lost.

Apr 7, 2009 - 9:31 am 47. Business Cards:

I like your post, very informational. I think we should hang on just a little bit. Things are certainly in a rut now and Obama’s moves to bring back a balance may not seem promising. But keeping an open perspective and not be overly cynical about could help. What can we do in our own simple ways I think is more of the answer; since we’re all stuck in it as well, let’s find solutions on our own. Thanks, enjoyed reading your post and the comments as well.

Apr 7, 2009 - 6:05 pm 48. Shaun:

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “Success is not final and failure is not fatal. It is the courage to go on that counts.”.

Apr 8, 2009 - 11:38 pm