We all have been hearing a great deal about the deficit and the blame that it is Bush's deficit or that it's Obama's deficit. A little research gives you a great example of let's throw the blame where it benefits what anyone may want to believe. Let me explain what I mean. The federal government operates on a really strange year end. It's budget year ends on September 20. Why? I have no idea, but that's what it does. The deficits that were during the Bush years up through 2008 were substantial but nothing like the 2009 and 2010 deficits during the Obama administration. So here's where you can draw whatever conclusions you would like. The 2009 budget was formulated under Bush so you could argue that it was Bush's fault that we spent so much. But wait, Bush was only President for 4 months of that budget year and Obama could have changed the budget during his 8 months in office, but he didn't. Well then let's say it's Obama's fault. In other words, who do you want to blame? If you draw the conclusion that only one third of the 2009 deficit was Bush's, then Obama's deficits in two years exceed Bush's for all 8 years. If you draw the conclusion that Bush formulated the budget then you would draw the opposite conclusion. Take your pick as to which conclusion you would like to draw. In the imortal words of Yakov Smirnoff, "America, what a country!"
& once we've all figured out who we want to blame we'll still have made zero progress in reversing the trend.... The US has got to cut spending & the US has got to collect more tax to pay down the debt.... that's just all there is to it.. you can't reverse such huge debt and deficit numbers without doing both things and IMHO anyone who thinks you can shouldn't be trusted with money. The US simply spends far too much on; exploited social services, the HUGE military, the HUGE prison system, the broken education system, and virtually everything else, the US overpays for everything and still can't stay within budget! No one wants to have their budget cut, but if the dollar keeps losing value it's not going to matter how big your budget is because the money can't buy anything... As for taxes, it's just one of those things, if you want all theses services you've got to pay for them... I for one don't mind paying more taxes if it means the money I can keep will still be worth something... American's have some of the lowest taxes in the "1st" world and they still complain about it, so basically we're just spoiled.. and we're about to get a rude wake up call when our national debt comes due... the annual interest alone is already more than most countries entire GDP... and it shows no signs of slowing, and at some point the dollar will be worth less than the paper it's printed on if we don't start turning things around now!
Governments all over the world have fallen into this trap. All that citizens of Canada, the US, UK etc. can do is hope that we are smart enough to elect leaders who are willing to actually do the job they are elected for instead of spending like drunken sailors and promising free unicorn rides for all the kids.
I agree with you both, but let's face the reality. Let's say I'm going to run for President. I recognize the problem and determine that we need to do something to change things. My platform is that taxes must be increased, not just on the wealthy, but everyone and that government expenses, including entitlements will be cut. what do you think my election chances are? Somewhere between nil and non existent would be a pretty good guess. Voters are an incredibly stupid bunch at times. There was a recent poll in the Buffalo News that said something like 92% of the members of the Buffalo Bills support Obama. Do you really think anything more than 2% of the Buffalo Bills football team have any clue what Obama stands for? Gary Hart may have made a good President, but, egads, he had an affair so that disqualified him from higher office. Obama and Bush never held real jobs but that didn't stop voters from electing both of them. When was the last time either Canada or the US elected a real leader? Arguably Reagan or maybe Johnson in the US, but I can't think of any other US or Canadian head of government that was a true leader.
I believe the budget deficits are OUR fault. We, as voters, simply have not required our candidates to even address a balanced budget until this last mid-term election. Amazingly, the small state in which we live has a 450 million dollar deficit for year 2011 and our local public schhol system and teacher's retirement fund is absolutely unfunded. I believe these situations probably exist in most ALL American cities....We have charged up our credit cards in all aspects of American society and are about to get the hangover. Also, as of Dec 1st, unemployment benefits will end for some 5 million Americans...3 weeks before Christmas...
I think it's more complex than that. The majority of spending has been to sustain and stimulate the economy. Deregulation of the financial sector resulted in sub-prime mortgages and people getting over their head in housing debt. Lending institutions no longer cared whether a mortgage could be paid off by the borrower, as they intended to bundle the mortgages and resell them. The buyers of these bundles just did the same in bigger bundles. So when the meltdown came who do you blame? Do you bailout the financial institutions or let them collapse? Who is to blame for the cost of bailouts? Who is to blame for a potential devastating and long lasting depression if you don't bail them out? Deregulation actually started during the Carter administration and each administration after that contributed more to it, both Democrat and Republican. Regulations are not all bad. Regulations keep the lead out of your toothpaste. Regulations keep planes from falling out of the sky. Regulations are needed and their implementation and enforcement is an essential role of government. A healthy, sustainable economy requires a balanced blend of free market and sensible regulations. This mess isn’t Obama’s fault though no doubt, he has made mistakes along the way. A portion of the blame is carried by every individual who bought a home that they really couldn’t afford, who carried too much personal debt, every lender who unethically loaned money to people who clearly didn’t have the means of repaying and every politician who cleared the way to allowing all this to happen through deregulation.
It's beginning to be pretty clear that this impulse to borrow excessively, at both the governmental and personal level, was not limited to Americans, and America; the Irish, Portuguese and Spaniards were not above it, either, and they are now struggling with the unmanageable debt left over from a "mortgage lending" boom. Only those people with a strong impulse to save seem to have escaped the Temptation- the Germans, as an example- and they are not happy to be picking up the pieces for their profligate counterparts.
