National Debt

[Dr. Shane]

I don't see a lot of hope with the Obama Administration getting a handle on the debt. I hate to say that but one has to face facts. The natural debt is now going to become larger than our economy. That will be the first time since WW2.

I have little hope for Obama because he is still playing the blame Bush game. The fact is that Bush had the national debt going down each year during the latter half of his administration until TARP was passed to deal with the financial crisis. If TARP is all that would have been passed, the budget deficit would have continued to decline in 2010 and 2011. Not only did Obama add spending bill on top of spending bill to TARP, he was part of formulating and passing TARP to begin with. When he insists on blaming Bush, that tells me he can't get honest with himself and gives me little hope for the future of the country with him at command.

I have a personal stake in it. It is estimated that the construction industry has about 40% unemployment. My company has been talking about sending me overseas (without my family) since this economic mess began. I have been riding a roller coaster of emotions and been dealing with so much anxiety that I have had bouts with palpitations. My children have had trouble sleeping at times. My wife has been an emotional wreck. The economy isn't just a political discussion for me. It has real life implications. And I am not unemployed. I can only imagine how bad it is impacting those unemployed that have lost cars, homes and watched their credit ratings go bad. The feeling of helplessness simply doesn't go away. And when I see the President of the United States lying about his share of the blame in the budget crisis, it doesn't make me feel like happy days are just around the corner.

I don't regret voting for Obama because I-can't-compromise-enough-with-Democrats McCain would likely have followed a very similar path and Democrats would have likely been able to maintain control of Congress by blaming it all on McCain/Bush. I am a big supporter of split government and am glad to see we are out of single-party rule for the time being. I just wish we had a President that could take responsibility for all the debt he has put the nation in. Only then might I have hope that he could see the error of his ways and start taking another direction.

[Woody]

Obama's Budget is revealing.

It calls for an increase in Defense

and

A decrease in heating assistance for the poor.

Go Figure

[karl]

It calls for a huge increase in debt. And the press is acting as if this is some big surprise that Obama didn't get the wake-up call.

NEWFLASH!! He's one of the most liberal politicians to have ever lived!! DUH!

OF course his budget is going to be idiotic!! What else would anyone expect? Fiscal responsibility??

Not a chance.

[Dr. Shane]

Well, I am glad we have split government and not one party rule. And I am glad that the media is not on the Obama cheer-leading squad as much as much of it was before. I am all for giving the President the benefit of the doubt. I think he deserves that. But he shouldn't expect us to go along with his rhetoric that he inherited the deficit. As a Presidential candidate he sat at the table and help formulate TARP. And every spending bill since then has had his signature on it.