In late 2009 President Obama addressed both houses of Congress and the American people in his first State of the Union address. In it he said the following:
“[…] tonight I’m proposing steps to pay for the trillion dollars that it took to rescue the economy last year. Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. […] Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t. We will continue to go through the budget, line by line, page by page, to eliminate programs that we can’t afford and don’t work. We’ve already identified $20 billion in savings for next year. To help working families, we’ll extend our middle-class tax cuts. But at a time of record deficits, we will not continue tax cuts […] for those making over $250,000 a year. We just can’t afford it.”
First of all, the President made this address sound as though he took office, spent a truckload of money, and is now going to work patiently and diligently to repay what he borrowed to stimulate the economy. Hmmm. Where did he get all that money?
Secondly, he mentions waiting until 2011 to “freeze government spending”, but why? At that time, we knew healthcare reform was being debated, but had no idea how if/when it would pass Congress, nor what it would cost the American people. We now know it passed in 2010 (ironically before the government spending freeze) and drove America into multi-trillion dollars of additional debt.
Now, the President wants us to think that they’ve already made enormous strides in the right direction, by analyzing the federal budget they’re identifying holes in the sinking ship. Does $20 billion sound like a lot? It is. I don’t anticipate making $20 billion in 100 lifetimes. But when you compare $20 billion to the $1 trillion that he spent just to “avoid another Great Depression”, well it seems like so little. Let me put it to you this way:
$20 Billion
I would like to point out that Obama promised an extension of the Bush tax cuts during the State of the Union address, which promise he’s planning to keep, or so he says. Here’s a partial copy of the transcript of President Obama’s Weekly Address (November 6, 2010):
“But the last thing we should do is raise taxes on middle-class families. For the past decade, they saw their costs rise, their incomes fall, and too many jobs go overseas. They’re the ones bearing the brunt of the recession. They’re the ones having trouble making ends meet. They are the ones who need relief right now.
[…] I believe we should permanently extend the Bush tax cuts for all families making less than $250,000 a year. That’s 98 percent of the American people.
[…] if Congress were to implement my proposal to freeze non-security discretionary spending for three years, it would bring this spending down to its lowest level as share of the economy in 50 years.
But at a time when we are going to ask folks across the board to make such difficult sacrifices, I don’t see how we can afford to borrow an additional $700 billion from other countries to make all the Bush tax cuts permanent, even for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. We’d be digging ourselves into an even deeper fiscal hole and passing the burden on to our children.
I recognize that both parties are going to have to work together and compromise to get something done here. But I want to make my priorities clear from the start. One: middle class families need permanent tax relief. And two: I believe we can’t afford to borrow and spend another $700 billion on permanent tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.”
I had to exercise my 1st amendment rights on this one. Let’s look at this a little deeper. We just experienced a historical election where the Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives, and experienced multiple take-overs in the Senate. Today’s Weekly Address sounds more like a nervous President who earlier thought he’d be serving two terms, but after losing his grip on Congress is beginning to realize he’ll get what’s coming to him.
I’ll give the man credit, he said he would extend the tax cuts and he appears to intend to. What bothers me is how he approaches the “cost” to continue by basically punishing the millionaires and billionaires for earning extraordinary incomes. You read what he said, this is what I believe he was actually saying (by the way, he said “the campaign season is over”, but it sounds like he’s already started his 2012 reelection campaign):
“Alright America. Alright. I get it. Yeah, you know I campaigned for President on a promise of change. In fact, I even had the majority of you waving signs and chanting “Yes we can!” You’re right, I got in office, took control of both houses of Congress and ran behind closed doors to push my own agenda. I told you I’d bring change, which I did, but it wasn’t anything like what I told you I’d do, or what you actually wanted.
Nice work. You successfully slapped me in the face by taking back control of the House. Dangit. I mean, look we’ll work together to get the work done that we should have started two years ago, right? I tell you what, let’s just forget about the TRILLIONS of dollars I’ve spent while in office. The most important thing (for you 98% of Americans) is that I’m a caring, generous President and more than willing to extend the Bush tax cuts. It won’t be difficult to pay for. I know we can’t afford it. I mean, come on, where are we going to find $700B? What? Where did I get the money for the Stimulus Bill, Jobs Bill, GM Bailout, Healthcare Reform? Ummm.
Look too many people in this country (approximately 2%) earn way too much money. How does it make you feel knowing that CEOs, movie stars, professional athletes are raking in millions a year while you just barely get by at your job? Don’t worry. I got you covered. We’ll just yank the $700B from these guys. Come on! They don’t need all that money! The most important thing we can do for America is redistribute the wealth. No! That’s not socialism, it’s called sharing.”
My only hope is that Obama has successfully convinced America that he’s not the man he was on the campaign trail. He wanted something, he got it. It doesn’t matter who we, the American people, are. Obama has his own agenda, his own objectives, and his own purpose. God save us all if this man’s reelected, and shame on you who supported him in the first place. I didn’t want to but, I told you so!
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