Obama Must Stop Blaming Bush, Accept Responsibility for Failing Economic Policies
By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
According to White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, as Reuters reported Monday, "High U.S. budget deficits are being driven by an economic crisis that President Barack Obama inherited."
That really says it all.
It is true that the U.S. economy was in bad shape when Obama came into office. But he and his top appointees want us to believe that their preferred solution—pushing huge increases in federal spending in his so-called economic recovery act and his budget for the upcoming fiscal year though Congress to prime the Keynesian pump, putting money in the hands of their political constituencies—are in no way related to the just announced record $1.8 trillion federal deficit.
"Orszag, writing in a blog posting, also said that the administration's latest budget deficit estimates—which were revised upward by $89 billion and $87 billion for this year and next, respectively—reflect the latest data on tax receipts, federal bailouts and other government costs," the wire service reported.
The new Democratic administration has made it necessary for the federal government to borrow just under one half of every dollar it must spend this year to fund its existing obligations and all the new spending the new president and his allies in Congress approved during Obama's first 100 days in office.
As the Associated Press explains, the FY2008 deficit will increase "by $89 billion to above $1.8 trillion—about four times the record set just last year." Which Orszag and others want us to believe is somebody else's fault.
The Reagan deficits, which used to be held up as an example of the former president's mismanagement of the economy, were, at their worst point, only about a tenth of what Obama has given us in his first year—no, his first days—in office. Today Reagan's $221,245,000 billion budget deficit for FY 1986 ( U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables, annual), once the worst year on record, looks like the good old days. And that deficit occurred during a period of economic expansion, unlike the Obama deficit, which is being incurred during a serious recession.
The deficit is not the only weakness in the Obama policy. Unemployment, which is now just under 9 percent, continues to rise. And increased joblessness leads to increased government spending for things like additional unemployment benefits and food stamps. At the same time the much promised transparency in stimulus spending has yet to appear. As the AP is reporting, "Federal auditors acknowledge they can't yet track the transportation money that is leaving Washington and there is no single list of the thousands of projects planned in each state."
The days of blaming Bush are at an end. At some point Obama's White House is going to have to step up and accept responsibility for the fact that its economic program, for the moment at least, is failing, that it is not producing the promised results and that it is, as the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office suggested early on might be the case, making things worse.
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Tags: economy | federal budget | Barack Obama | Peter Orszag | Bush administration | federal deficit | Obama administration
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Reader Comments
RP Miles of AZ, (part 1 of 2)
You wrote:
"You are the perfect example of a rude, fat, arrogant white Republican male."
Don't ever accuse anyone else of being hateful, racist, or bigoted as no one fits that description more that you, seeing how you present yourself here with such offensive comments.
You wrote:
"You can't keep your mouth shut and listen to anyone else since you think you're so smart and so powerful."
I find this remark particularly amusing having grown up in a time when the newspapers and the alphabet networks presented a monolithic lift-wing ideology as the only known world view, when dissenting political ideology could only be spread in books, and by word of mouth. This created a situation where left-wing ideologues were unaware of any philosophical principals opposed to their worldview. They now react with shock and denial, demanding us to be silenced without any discussion, whenever they encounter our disagreement. This amuses me because I know those days are over.
For example, Michael Douglas made a movie called 'The American President', which apparently inspired the TV show 'The West Wing'. In both we saw a two party system portrayed. But the two parties presented looked like the Democrats, as they existed in history vs. the Democrats, as they would like to be known. This only showed their own intramural dispute.
Republicans could find no recognizable trace of our philosophical beliefs in the movie or the TV show. This indicates that our ideas are entirely unknown to these producers and writers.
Why didn't they relish the opportunity to present our ideas in full force, and then quash them with what they regard as their own superior intellect? Obviously they are unaware of our ideas, and wouldn't know how to do such a thing. So they try to force us to remain silent. But they can't anymore because we have so many mediums of communication available to us these days.
Even now, with no elected politicians to lead us, our opposition has paralyzed their Democrat administration, even as it enjoys the support of its party's majority in both houses of Congress, with a supposedly filibuster-proof Senate. Having shed politicians whose leadership we found lacking, our party is in ascendancy, and remains a force to be reckoned with. We still have the power to say ‘NO’ when our liberty is threatened.
RP Miles of AZ, (part 2 of 2)
You wrote:
"You avoided real answers in favor of blabbing the Repug party line."
Without a teleprompter, without stuttering, or making insulting racist remarks. Even Obama can't do that.
You wrote:
"You love name calling"
Which names? Please cite examples.
You wrote:
". . . and SHOUTING DOWN YOUR OPPONENTS WITHOUT REALLY LISTENING TO THEM."
That's what your Democrats are trying to do in town hall meetings, as they accuse ordinary Americans of representing evil insurance companies instead of representing ordinary Americans. They cannot cite any examples of insurance companies orchestrating such protests, although that's the accusation from your congressional leadership. Please ask Pelosi to name at least one insurance company as an example of what she is talking about.
You wrote:
"YOU, DUDE, ARE SLIME"
This is name calling you hypocritically accuse Roff of, without citing examples.
You wrote:
" . . . OF THE SORT THAT'S HURTING REAL POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN THIS COUNTRY."
Discourse you would like to silence for fear of loosing arguments you can't understand.
You wrote:
"SOOOOOOOO LET'S KEEP UP THE YELLING AND HATE UNTIL WE TEAR THE COUNTRY APART!!!"
You've shown us here that you don't know how to do anything other than that. Do you go to town hall meetings wearing an SEIU t-shirt looking for opportunities to beat up the people who disagree with you? That's the image I get after seeing the way you present yourself here.
You wrote:
"THAT WHAT YOU WANT, PIG?"
So much name-calling in so few words tells us volumes about you and your Democrat Party. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present you as an example of the opposition, with your self-caricature, which others will find revealing. I don't care if you ever read this, and it won't matter if you do. I couldn't resist such an easy target, that you made of yourself.
I would also like to thank Peter Roff for his excellent work. Roff must have hit his target most effectively, judging by this result.
Peter's Appearance on MSNBC Aug. 10
You are the perfect example of a rude, fat, arrogant white Republican male. You can't keep your mouth shut and listen to anyone else since you think you're so smart and so powerful. You avoided real answers in favor of blabbing the Repug party line. You love name calling and SHOUTING DOWN YOUR OPPONENTS WITHOUT REALLY LISTENING TO THEM. YOU, DUDE, ARE SLIME OF THE SORT THAT'S HURTING REAL POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN THIS COUNTRY. SOOOOOOOO LET'S KEEP UP THE YELLING AND HATE UNTIL WE TEAR THE COUNTRY APART!!! THAT WHAT YOU WANT, PIG?
You have just been treated to the mirror image of the behavior you exhibited on MSNBC today. I personally think it's counter productive. So, if another bully, bigger than yourself, could punch you (and your rude interruptions) in the nose, would you learn a little more courtesy, empathy, and respect for women and non-Republicans? I doubt it.
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