Barack Obama vows to curb US debt
Our incoming president has spoken!
Obama hits Bush on deficit and vows to curb U.S. debt¹
He foresees trillion-dollar deficits. He will not propose a budget until after a pork-free stimulus plan, he said.
By Steven Thomma, McClatchy NewspapersWASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama yesterday criticized President Bush for “irresponsibly” doubling the federal debt, then warned that he could preside over trillion-dollar-a-year deficits for “years to come.”
Huddling with his budget team, Obama told reporters that he would ban pork-barrel spending projects, known as earmarks, from his proposal to stimulate the economy. He also vowed to make the difficult choices necessary to curb runaway deficits and debt.
He said, however, that he would not propose his first federal budget until after the stimulus proposal - which itself could cost about $800 billion. And he cautioned that staggering annual deficits would continue even after that.
“At the current course and speed, a trillion-dollar deficit will be here before we even start the next budget,” Obama said at his transition office.
“We’re already looking at a trillion-dollar budget deficit or close to a trillion-dollar budget deficit, and . . . potentially we’ve got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on.”
Emphasis mine.
And, of course, we aren’t headed toward a trillion dollar deficit; we’re headed toward a two trillion dollar deficit.
| Low end estimate | High end estimate | |
| FY2008 Deficit | $455,000,000,000 | $455,000,000,000 |
| Financial System Bailout | $700,000,000,000 | $700,000,000,000 |
| Obama Stimulus Package | $675,000,000,000 | $775,000,000,000 |
| FY2009 Deficit | $1,830,000,000,000 | $1,930,000,000,000 |
Now, I’ve got just one question: how does Barack Obama “vow to curb US debt” if he’s planning on adding a trillion dollars or more to it, every year?
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¹ The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wednesday, 7 January 2009, p. A-2
John:
The crap that spills from the lips of these politicians, the Orwellian doublespeak and just plain lies defies credability. The decline of our republic has shifted into third gear and Obama, Reid, Pelosi and Frank have sabotaged the breaks.
7 January 2009, 4:42 pmArt Downs:
This is what we get for electing too many third-rate lawyers to public office.
Too many people in the private sector seem to be content to ‘go with the flow’ and minimize their losses through the services of lobbyists.
We need to return to the concept of citizen-legislators and start to dump the time-serving careerists who know no trade save politics.
7 January 2009, 5:01 pmYorkshire:
And the Dims campaigned on fiscal responsibility. Knew that was wrong.China is now thinking twice about buying the soon to be worthless paper being printed at BEP.
8 January 2009, 12:10 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
Shorter Dana Pico: We should have expected this after Obamas years of mismanaging the economy…
8 January 2009, 1:21 pmSharon:
We did expect this because this is what Democrats do.
8 January 2009, 2:26 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
Well, Sharon and Dana, I’ll tell you something I think you’re too cowardly to do.
Go take a look at these figures. these show how badly the Bush government has screwed your country.
Now, lay your predictions for where they’ll be at the end of 2012 and 2016 (assuming Obama is re-elected).
As I said, I think you both are too cowardly to do so in public.
8 January 2009, 4:20 pmDana Pico:
Phoe: even if you assume that all of the bad economic news is the direct result of Bush Administration policies, why would you think that the next president promising “rillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on” is such a great idea?
The economy will recover, because the economy always recovers; that’s simply part of the business cycle, and it will recover whether we enact Mr Obama’s huge stimulus plan or we do absolutely nothing. And if we enact Mr Obama’s stimulus plan, and the economy recovers, he’ll claim all the credit for the recovery even though there will be no control group indicating whether the economy would be better, worse or no different had the stimulus plan not been enacted.
He won’t say so, but this is a “recovery” plan a la William Jennings Bryan, to inflate our way out of the national debt.
8 January 2009, 5:51 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
Phoe: even if you assume that all of the bad economic news is the direct result of Bush Administration policies, why would you think that the next president promising “rillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on” is such a great idea?
I don’t think it’s a good idea. In exactly the same sense I don’t think having to get my teeth drilled is a good idea.
It may, however, be necessary. Keynesian spending to head off stagflation.
8 January 2009, 6:41 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
And I notice you haven’t placed any predictions for 2012 or 2016,,,
8 January 2009, 6:41 pmPhoenician in a time of Romans:
And if you don’t get it, which you probably won’t, go look at the graph here.
8 January 2009, 6:49 pm