Political Critic Archives

President Obama has been blamed by nearly every conservative for creating the largest deficit in the history of the United States. They deride him as a socialist and communist who is running the nation right into bankruptcy with his maniacal, liberal spending habits.

In order to get past the rhetoric, we need to take a closer look at the actual numbers.

The current federal deficit is approximately $1.42 trillion, which is the the largest in American history. However, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), President Obama inherited a federal deficit of $1.2 trillion the day he took office on January 20, 2009.

The vast majority of deficit spending took place in the last half of 2008 under George W. Bush's administration. Remember that the massive bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and the bank bailouts under TARP all took place during that time period. Those events boosted the federal deficit to the astronomical $1.2 trillion figure quoted by the CBO at the beginning of 2009.

The remaining $220 billion increase is a result of the economic stimulus package and lower tax revenue received. The stimulus plan was approximately $800 billion, but it was designed to be spent over a ten year period, which lessens the effect on the annual deficit. The lower tax receipts are due to higher unemployment.

I'm sorry to disappoint my conservative readers, but the reality is that Barack Obama is not to blame for today's massive federal deficit. He isn't exactly taking steps to correct the problem, but he definitely didn't create it.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 6:00pm

Obama Signs Final Healthcare Bill

Despite all the crying, whining, and obstructionism from the GOP, President Obama today signed the last peace of the healthcare reform bill into law. Although I believe it's a poorly thought out plan that does little to control costs, it is the law of the land. Republicans apparently haven't gotten the memo though, as many of them running for election are vowing to repeal the law. Perhaps they need a civics lesson on the veto power of the president.

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The conservative mantra is currently 'repeal and replace', which has to be one of the most laughable things I've ever heard. Need we be reminded that the GOP controlled both Congress and the White House for the first six years of this decade and did absolutely nothing about healthcare reform?

Republicans need to move on from this healthcare reform issue. They've been wasting all of their time stoking anger, fear, and outrage in the public. They lost. Get over it!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 - 9:35pm

Health Care Vote Likely on Saturday

The incredible waste of time that is the healthcare reform bill is almost over. An up-or-down vote is expected to finally take place this Saturday to (hopefully) end this ridiculous debate. The bill has gone through so many distortions that neither side really likes the final product. Even the well-known pinko, commie, liberal Dennis Kucinich isn't happy with it. However, he's voting for it anyway.

President Barack Obama has promised lower insurance premiums with the passage of health care reform, but can he deliver? Whatever the brain-dead Democrats pass, you can be sure that the federal government will grow even larger and the private sector will become smaller. Nearly $1 trillion will be sucked out of the economy and poured into yet another government-funded program. This is a recipe for disaster. Either the deficit will surge or taxes will increase and neither is a palatable option.

What President Obama hasn't figured out yet is that the government does not hold the answer to all problems. Sure, he'll tell you that he doesn't believe that concept, but every action he's taken thus far in his presidency runs contrary to his rhetoric.

If healthcare reform is really this important, I'm sure Congress and the White House can cut spending in other, less important programs to offset the cost. Until they do that, I'll be in the NO camp.

Monday, March 8, 2010 - 8:40pm

$51 Billion Paid, $51 Billion Left

American International Group (AIG), the poster-child of the government bailout program, finally has some money to pay back all the taxpayer dollars they ~~stole~~ borrowed. In the last few weeks, AIG sold two of their prized divisions for $35.5 billion and $15.5 billion, respectively. Those funds will be used to pay down the $102 billion they owe to the U.S. government.

Of course, raising the other $51 billion will be quite difficult. AIG doesn't have any more units that can fetch those kind of prices. Officially, the company believes it can return the taxpayer funds with more sales and profits. However, it hasn't identified which divisions they will sell to generate billions of dollars. AIG also is nowhere near profitability as they lost $9 billion just in the last quarter.

It is a good sign that AIG has the ability to pay back some funds, but we all know they'll never return all of it. The past administration clearly should've let them go bankrupt rather than print money to create an even larger federal deficit and debt.

Perhaps the government will learn that bankruptcies are good and bailouts are bad. If they do, the American taxpayer will benefit greatly.

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