Obama's $2 Trillion Dollar Budget Deficit

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People yell about Bush spending raising our debt 1.2 trillion dollars in 3 years.

But ya know what?! Obama has already raised our debt that much in ONE DAY!! And he's not even president yet. His stimulus's seem to come out of thin air.

Brian of IL 6:18PM January 16, 2009

Actually it is Congress that is Constitutionally responsible for the budget and since the Democrat majority of 2006, the deficit has soared due to their irresponsiblity and ineptitude. The Democrats were the ones pushing the bailout packages while pursuing policies that destroyed the world economy.

The first domino to fall was the exhorbitant in crease in energy prices brought about by their stubborn refusal to permit domestic oil drilling in the face of rapidly increasing demand. Their actions caused prices to escalate so high that it choked off world economic growth. That economic slowdown exposed their financial schemes, such as forcing lenders to provide mortgages to those who could not pay them back, while blocking financial oversight of their activities. This collapse in the financial market further destroyed the world economy as those mortgages circulated thoughout the world financial system like a cancer. The Democrats own this economic meltdown and its aftermath.

Rick of FL 10:12AM January 15, 2009

If Obama's plan goes through we the American people who actually work an honest day's work and earn an honest wage are going to be taxed 1 Trillion dollars on top of the 11 Trillion dollars that already exists in our National Debt.

Obama has also been recently quoted as saying that our our economy will be stimulated by the principal of free market and not free money.

The hypocracy of this statement is that while he is spooning these comments down the throats of millions of Americans, large corporations such as AIU, Citibank, Bank of America, JP Morgan, etc., are getting billions of dollars of our taxpayers dollars for free. Even worse is that many of these bailout companies aren't even owned entirely by American shareholders which means we are giving more money to international governments than our own. So how do these bailouts and economic stimulus plans help the U.S. Economy if they don't even help put money back into the pockets of American tax payers?

The answer is simple. They won't help. In fact these stimulus plans and bailouts will do nothing more than bankrupt our economy and put the burden of this debt on the shoulders of generations to come.

In retrospect, lets look at the already spent 5 trillion dollars of bailout funds plus the 1 trillion dollars of proposed economic stimulus and divide by the population of every us citizen which is roughly 306 million. That total comes to $19,608 for every man woman and child.

That would be a significant stimulus to those who just got layed off. Not enough you say? The rich don't need stimulus?

OK lets look at those who are really hurting, middle class and below. The percentage of upper middle class and above is roughly 16% of the population or about 48,640,000. This leaves about 255,360,000 middle class and below. Divided evenly into 6 trillion dollars would be $23,460 dollars for every middle-class and below citizen, man, woman and child.

I don't know about you but I shure could use another $23.5K in my wallet to support my family and I would feel one helluva lot more comfortable knowing that it would be going to the needs of my family's survival and not the multi-hundred thousand dollar celebration party that these big businesses throw when they get our taxpayer money.

bcred of AZ 5:34PM January 14, 2009

"the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Obama transition co-chair John Podesta, said the Obama plan was chock-full of “special interest favorites” and “long-discredited conservative proposals”"

Not even close. Here's what was actually published by the Center For American Progress:

"To ensure that public money is not irresponsibly wasted, the legislation must break away from special-interest politics and conservative filibustering. Public money should be spent wisely and in the most effective way to address our economic woes. A rapid and aggressive economic plan must not be obstructed by demands for pet projects from either side of the congressional aisle or long-discredited conservative proposals such as permanent tax cuts for the rich."

At best, Mr. Pethokoukis' interpretation shows reading comprehension worthy of a 5th grader. At worst, it shows a complete and utter disregard for truth.

Michael of NJ 12:23AM January 14, 2009

GDP in US is inflated and is not based on real output.

The issuance of debt effectively devalues the dollar

Exporting countries and other foreign creditors will shift to the stronger currency: the Euro

Trade growth in the past five years will vanish

Thankyou

Mr. Gilbert of AZ 1:23AM January 12, 2009

well who been raking it in ? the money changers! who can buy a president an election! who can make even the most outspoken critics in the media duck for cover. lots of smart people saw the whole meltdown years ago and just couldnt speak up for fear of a backlash from the powers that be . its amazing that everyday americans think they have a say in the US goverment when they vote! its not change when its the same corrupt parties that that broke this countrys back , the Dems and Oboma are more of the same. The real power in country is the rich and powerfull using lobbist to buy goverment with mega money .the system worked fine as our factories packed up went over seas, HMOs got fat refusing care. tax breaks pushed SUVs that got 10miles to a gallon, But americans had their Flat screens TVs &401ks & went on vacations to the shore so all was well. Now that the truth hits we americans think we can just spend our way out of this hole with a couple of trillion being invested by the same by crooks who stole it in the first place ?. we are going to make 2 million homes engery eff ? remodel some fed Blds ? fix a couple highways and bridges? the feds are a joke , get rid of cap gains offer real tax cuts for rebuilding the indust base of this country let the private sector lead the way , fight the the money changers who stole our country by not voting for a crooks in dem or repub party . protest vote the good old system thats breaking this countrys back

bruce carras of OR 9:41PM January 11, 2009

Wow. You'd think people as a group would be smarter than this.

Government spending as a % of GDP is how we see just how much money the government is taking from private citizens.

15% is simply breathtaking.

We're not talking about anyone's opinions of Obama or Bush, or what party this or that. But about verifiable economic history.

Show us the history of successful, free societies that prospered under such economic policies. They don't exist.

www.freetheworld.com is a good place for objective, non-political information on such things.

RayG01 of AZ 6:57PM January 10, 2009

I think the Obama camp is working hard on obtaining some type of return from all these bailout efforts. The return could be in tax revenue, jobs, trained workers, new technology, or other tangible returns. The future should dictate some type of return on every dollar we invest in any venture. Build a bridge, charge a toll till paid off, rewire a neighborhood electrical grid, reward municipal bond investors, etc... In short America must stop being a non-profit entity and allow some profits in order to survive. Before we removed our regulatory infrastructure, it would have been wise to invest our federal trust funds in loans to our banking system to bolster funds such as Social Security. Perhaps we can visit this concept at a later date!!!

Ray Fisher of NM 11:58AM January 10, 2009

Obama's continued refusal to produce the series of documents requested in our petition, which is more than the initial long form birth certificate, in order to support his Presidential qualification clearly indicates he is NOT QUALIFIED and if he does not step down and continues on with the inauguration ceremony, we will continue collecting evidence to gain his impeachment.

The news media, refusing to report the extent and purpose of our petition and then a few providing back page confirmation of the refusal of the Supreme Court to take action not wanting the American people to see their statement of denial which would infuriate the American voter knowing they as "ordinary citizens did not have the right to question" and did not want to give consideration in lieu of the upset it would cause in the celebration process, must likewise be held in collusion with Obama to influence the American voter. By their bias reporting, which resulted due to excessive advertising contracts awarded to them by Obama and his campaign executives, complaints will be filed against them with the FCC. The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is appalling and an insult to their profession and the journalist who perform their jobs admirably.

Just recently we have collected evidence of falsification by Obama on his Selective Service Application. The one important issue, but there were several others, is falsification of the date he filed which should have been in 1980 but evidence shows he did not file this document and is in violation of the Federal mandate. Ask yourself what would have happened if that was your son, he no doubt would have been arrested. Owing to Obama's ability to circumvent issues, I am sure the excuse of a misunderstanding will be attempted and would willingly be accepted.

I am amazed at the leniency this man receives. He has no integrity at all, and he will do anything to accomplish his goal. This is not the caliber of man I want as the next President of our country. I do believe there is corruption in most of the levels of our government but none surpasses that of Obama. I only hope the others involved in the charade don't end up taking all the blame and Obama walks away without any scares.

During my employment with a leading transportation company I was told by an executive that he could get me fired for not doing what he requested. My answer to that individual was, "any position that easy to lose is not worth having". I held by that statement the rest of my life.

Joanofarc of PA 7:36AM January 10, 2009

It never ceases to amaze me that the candidates that spend the most money on media ads get our vote.

Whey do we seem to always elect the one's that spend the most on ads?

Are we so uninformed about issues that we can be bought so easily?

The results keep saying yes, over and over again.

I am proud of the fact that I seem to "lose" every election.

But that does not overcome the result because the majority of voters "win".

HillbillyBill of TN 6:44AM January 10, 2009

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Capital Commerce

Capital Commerce

U.S. News business reporter Matthew Bandyk examines the issues, people, and debates that shape the nexus of political and economic life in the nation's capital.

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