The title of this post is a borrowed quote from the great Merle Haggard. The USA is bounding down such a hill and there is little to stop it given the lack of interest in history by a majority of our citizenry and the willingness of our media to put self interest and self survival above the health of the nation. The economy was bad in 2008 - no argument there. However,the problems were exacerbated in 2009 and continue at dismal levels to this day. The price to "achieve" this level of short term failure was a guarantee of the long term financial collapse of our capitalist system. I come to this solemn conclusion after 4+ years of hearing platitudes and fabrications emanating from the executive branch in Washington, DC and the collaboration of nearly all of the media in propping up fiction and ignoring reality. The willingness of our electorate to accept ignorance of history and economics and channel their energy towards a depraved pop culture has allowed for their exploitation.
We are in trouble. President Obama is a disciple of Saul Alinsky and this is not a secret. The media is fully aware of Alinsky political tactics and fully aware that the President's team employs them, yet the media coverage of the President intentionally ignores these tactics. So, we cannot rely on the media to help in the education of our citizens, but we need to take the initiative to inform the people around us who have been far too busy entertaining themselves to death. Let's see if we can describe one of the more recent prevarications touted by President Obama and then provide an example which, hopefully, everyday men and women can digest.
Recently, during the State of the Union, the President claimed that he had cut the deficit by $2.5 Trillion dollars and was on his way to cutting the deficit by $4 Trillion.
To that claim, I call "Bullshit"!!
To clarify, the surplus/deficit is a measurement of the annual budget, whereas the Debt is cumulative, ie adding together each year's surplus/deficit. Surplus occurs when Revenues to the Treasury (taxes & fees, etc) are greater than government outlays, ie Spending. Deficit means the opposite - spending exceeds revenue. Let's look at the deficits since 2008:
2008 $ 487B (GWBush)
2009 $ 1.484T delta +$997B (BObama)
2010 $ 1.344T delta -$140B (BObama)
2011 $ 1.322T delta -$ 22B (BObama)
2012 $ 1.128T delta -$194B (BObama)
These numbers are from the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) from Aug 2012 and have probably been adjusted slightly, but will NEVER make Obama's claims close to the truth. The 2008 number means that the Fed Government spent $487B more than it collected and/or earned. There are different tricks which President Obama employs in order to deceive our willfully ignorant public. The first sleight of hand is that he ignores his first year in office (2009) which is where the real damage (the STIMULUS) was perpetrated. For a moment, let's accept his premise. Even if I went with this flawed 3 year window analysis, the deficit would only be reduced by $356B from 2010-2012, not $2.5T. So, the $2.5T claim is pure fiction. In addition, Obama is ignoring his initial budget buster when he implemented the $1T stimulus, hence the increase in the deficit of $997B. Looking at all 4 years, the deficit has grown under Obama by $641B, so his claim is off by $3T. Only a compliant media would refuse to report on this outright lie.
Exploring this a little further, we get to the crux of the charade being played by Democrats in Washington, DC where our Debt has grown by more than $5T since Obama became President. The reason the Senate refuses to pass a budget is because it allows them to spend $1T stimulus over and over without having to explain it each and every year. This is done by operating under Continuing Resolutions (CRs).
It’s not an accident. It's not late. It's not uncertainty. IT IS INTENTIONAL.
By not passing a budget in the Senate, the stimulus is included in the annual baseline. President Obama can claim, with some legitimacy, that government is growing at its slowest rate in history. It completely misrepresents his stewardship of the budget since he doubled the size of government spending in his first year. We have had the $1T stimulus called out only once in 2009, but $4T in stimulus has been added in total because CR's continue spending at the previous year's level plus a small %. Another $1T stimulus is being added as I write this post, with $3T more to come during the 2nd term.
Let's try to find an analogy that every day Americans can understand. Imagine, that in 2008, you and your family went on a modest vacation. Wherever you are located in the country, you packed up the caravan and drove to the ocean, lake or mountains, etc, etc... for a week. You paid for gas, rental, food and beverage. Each year leading up to 2008, you had added a little benefit - maybe an upgraded room or suite or a fancy dinner.
In 2009, despite economic uncertainty, you once again went on the driving vacation for 7 days, but you also flew the family to Australia for 2 weeks, then to Europe for 10 days and another 10 days out at Fiji.
In 2010, you decided to cut back, so the driving vacation became a weekend, Australia was cut to 10 days, Europe and Fiji to 7 days each.
In 2011, you skipped the driving vacation, but still went to Australia for 10 days and Europe and Fiji for 7 days each again.
In 2012, you cut Australia to 7 days to match Europe and Fiji.
Technically, you could say that you have been reducing vacation expenses at historic rates since 2009.
You might still be spending 5 times as much as you did in 2008, but in Washington, DC speak, this is a cut because you are not still spending 6 times as much.
Just like the oxygen mask demonstrations prior to take-off, please put your mask on first and help others in need of help. Please wake up and study the game and the do your best to help others to understand what is happening. The country is going to collapse if we continue to elect liars, frauds and demagogues. We know that we cannot depend on the media to expose them. It really comes down to us.
As Merle asked: "Are the good times really over for good?"
