Comments on the Debt

OK, so I've been trying to avoid this topic like the plague, but considering all the media attention it's been getting, I feel like I ought to say something.  As most of you probably know, the US Federal debt limit was raised by $2.4 trillion.  The world would not have ended, as I explain below, but if you watch the news, they would make you think this debt ceiling was like a ticking time bomb.  No new taxes were levied, but no provision was put in either that would extend the George Bush era tax cuts through 2013.  As much as AK would argue that would be a return to "regular" rates, that, my friends, would be a tax increase.  If taxes are at one rate for 12 years, then they go up, even if they were "old" or "regular" rates, that is a tax increase, people. 

What defines a "regular" rate anyway?  I digress...

The other stipulation was that a special "committee" (laughable...) would scour the books and look for $1.5 trillion in cuts over the next 2 years, otherwise $2.5 trillion would be cut from the defense budget, which would be music to AK's ears...but sorry, do you REALLY think they'll let that happen?  I told myself several times throughout this, and I still believe it to be true.  Congress has no intention to cut anything. 

Let me repeat that.  Congress has no intention to cut ANYTHING.

This is how monstrous government has become, how far its tentacles have crept into our everyday lives.  More people depend on the government now for at least something than they ever did before.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, right?  We can trust government, right?  Sure, they just nearly "defaulted**" on their $14.5 trillion debt (although if you ask me the deadline would have come and gone and nobody would have noticed), but we can trust government.  So let's allow it to expand even further by allowing it to borrow another $2 trillion. 

**Defaulting in this case does not necessarily mean that we would have not paid our bills and debts.  We would have made our interest payments.  Social programs (Medicare, Social Security, etc) would have been funded.  We just would not have been able to appropriate new funds for new programs (the horror!)...

Well, let me tell you, Wall Street does not really like that idea. 

Usually, when the stock market rises and falls, people just accept it as normal fluctuations in the economy, but when it drops by over 500 points in one day...and when that day happens to be day 10 out of 11 of losses...people will start to pay attention.  If this was such a great "deal" reached by Congress and the president, don't you think markets would have responded favorably?  I don't know many of the details of the bill, although Nancy Pelosi said on the floor of the House before they voted that Republicans got "98%" of what they wanted.  Let me correct you on that Nancy.  John Boehner got 98% of what he wanted. 

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) doesn't have a clue.  Yes, folks, he is clueless.  Sure, he'll talk a good game about cutting spending and refusing to raise taxes, but he's more worried about making sure everybody's happy (including Barack Obama) than he is about making good decisions for the country...typical politician.  If he was really interested in making significant, positive change, he would have made sure that August 2nd deadline came and went.  See what happens.  See who doesn't get their precious government checks.  Stick your neck out there and make somebody mad for the good of the country.  Hell, they're not all from your district.  Unfortunately, the biggest culprit of government spending...not the military, that would be social programs (just look at the Debt Clock)...has too many people on it who are beyond dependent, including some I'm sure who are from Ohio's 8th district.  One of those social programs is Medicare.  Now, before you say that I am anti-old people, keep in mind that I have numerous relatives over the age of 65 who are on Medicare because they have to be, but have prepared over the course of their whole lives for this age by saving and making smart financial decisions.  A little personal responsibility goes a long way.  Over 50 Republicans voted against Boehner's debt deal.  (98% of what the Republicans wanted?  Come on, Nancy!)  Who are these Republicans who voted against the magic bill?  That would be the Tea Party. 

Ah yes, the notorious terrorists known as the Tea Party.  Hey, Joe Biden himself called them that.  John Boehner is no Tea Party guy.  He's a pleaser.  Tea Party guys don't care if they tick anybody off...and they usually do, because they tell the powers that be exactly what they DON'T want to hear.  The government spending train is speeding out of control, and this "debt deal" does nothing to solve it.  If dropping consumer confidence and this Dow Jones freefall are not proof enough for you, then I don't know what is.  So what does the Tea Party want to do about it?  Right now, there is nothing they can do.  Yes, folks, as much as Barack Obama (and AK) want you to believe it, the Tea Party can do nothing to stop anything.  All they can do is try to persuade people in their own political party to get it together.  John Boehner, however, is not one of them, and he chose not to listen. 

Most political pundits and media types have all but coronated Obama as the winner of the 2012 presidential race (you barely see any coverage of what the Republicans are doing...and the first primaries are less than 5 months away).  It's a crying shame.  All he's really done is blame George Bush since he's taken office, even though the debt was only $10 trillion when Bush left office.  Before you go crazy with that number, consider that it was only $5 trillion when he took office...it's now $14.5 trillion.  Obama has raised the debt in 3 years by almost the same amount as Bush did in eight.  How do you blame that on Bush?

And you know what the really nasty thing is...Obamacare doesn't even go into effect until 2014!