A SPENDING SPREE WE CAN'T AFFORD
12/22/2009
Blaming George Bush for bad fiscal policies does not excuse President Obama's ridiculously irresponsible spending of taxpayer money.
On December 21, President Obama held a news conference in which he once again complained about the economic crisis he inherited due to the reckless spending of the past eight years. While this is partly true, he conveniently continues to conceal the fact that he is only making matters worse with his own irresponsible spending.
In the 11 months that Barack Obama has been in office, he has spent more money than all previous presidents combined. His first foray into exorbitant spending was signing the stimulus plan into law in February. After pushing for the plan and vowing that once enacted, unemployment would not exceed eight percent, unemployment has exceeded 10 percent and there have been no discernible benefits. In fact, according to a study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the money allocated has not only failed to go to those most in need, but it has primarily gone to affluent Democratic districts. So the "stimulus" has really been nothing more than a slush fund for Obama and his supporters.
But the $787 billion "stimulus" was just the beginning. On top of that, the president signed bills to spend $410 billion to keep government running this year (which included nearly a thousand unrelated pork-barrel projects) and hundreds of billions of dollars to fund the wasteful, unconstitutional bureaucracies and czars he created upon taking office. And just last week, he just signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill, ostensibly to fund the wars but filled with pork for party cronies, even though while campaigning for the president he pledged not to sign pork-laden spending bills as president.
And on top of it all, Obama continues pushing for the disastrous health care reform bill, which will cost $1 trillion over 10 years despite his outrageous claim that it will cut the federal deficit. Since when does spending more actually reduce what you owe? That sure doesn't work with my checkbook.
It is true that President Obama inherited a bad situation caused by bad decisions from the previous administration. However continuously blaming his predecessor is disingenuous. It was the Democrats who took control of Congress in 2007, just before the economic chaos began in earnest, and all spending originates in Congress. This means that all the reckless spending by George Bush from 2007 to 2009 was done with the consent of the Democratic-controlled Congress, including one Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
Furthermore, just because President Obama inherited a bad situation does not entitle him to make it worse and still blame his predecessor. Although he has not admitted it, this is President Obama's economy now. George Bush drove the country near the cliff. Barack Obama is hitting the gas and driving straight for the edge. When the car crashes, it won't be Bush's fault.
Until the president can assume responsibility for his own actions and realize that his profligate spending, not his predecessor's, will bankrupt this country, Americans will be in for very rough times for the next three to seven years.
WalterCoffey.com
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