A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
This country is quickly becoming, to use a Star Wars quote, “a wretched hive of scum and villainy.” But, not the whole country. Just that little swath of former swampland between Virginia and D.C.
It took our esteemed and glorious future Dictator President, Barack Obama and current Conservative President, helped along by the most fiscally aware ignorant Congress in history only two years to pile on as much national debt as it took President Bush to do in six, without the benefit of having to fight two wars and recover from a national emergency like a major terrorist attack and catastrophic hurricane season. And “That One” has promised to add even more, trying to prepare us for even GREATER debt in the next few years.
Take a look at this chart:
I cropped out a small portion of the historical national debt chart from a liberal “national debt tracker” site and added in a little red, vetical line. That line represents when the new Congress was sworn in on 4 January 2007. Can anyone tell me what catastrophic or major event was that happened between that red line and today? Buehler? Buehler? Now in the six years to the left of the red, vertical line you see another increase in red that occurs right after President Bush takes office. Can anyone in the audience tell me what catastrophic or major events took place during that timeframe? Finally, do you notice the leveling off and subsequent decrease that began to take place about 15 months prior to the vertical red line?
That leveling off happens to coincide with victory in Iraq taking place. As the Iraqi government stood up and began taking on the Lion’s share of running its own country, we stopped spending money on it. We no longer had to pay for the majority of security operations in the country. Infrastructure was being almost exclusively paid for out of Iraq’s oil profits and other investments. It still is, but for some reason, that debt line started rising again in 2007. Interesting. What could have possibly caused it? And let me add that the black line of decreasing debt was the result of decimating our military and slashing defense spending. No wonder it’s so hard to support a two-front war these days.
I made a prognostication with my wife tonight. Mark my words, in two years when the mid-term elections roll around and those boneheads who were voted into office in 2006 are up for reelection and having to face their constituencies for the first time, they will be – again – blaming Bush for the problem. The Dumbocrats will continue to refuse to take the blame or responsibility for anything. Here’s what we’ll hear: “Bush put us so far in the hole, we couldn’t recover in just two or four years. It’s not our fault.” They’ll squeeze that excuse turnip dry. And the Repugnicans will have their cake and eat it too.
The problem is that Bush’s spending is akin to getting hit by an IED that almost blows off one entire side of your body (the body being the country in this story). So, the country’s RIGHT side is bleeding and fleshy, oozing life. The Dumbocrats rush in to “save” us from any more of Bush’s IEDs and start assessing the damage. Damn, there’s a lot of blood. So, immediately, they go to working on the LEFT side of the body. To get the RIGHT side to stop bleeding, they cut off the LEFT arm and leg. Now, the entire body is bleeding only completely void of limbs.
Congress is supposedly responsible for governing the country right? Our politicians are sent to Washington to be examples…leaders! We should all be like them. So, I’m going to follow the example they are setting.
I am probably about $30,000 in debt, including vehicles (but excluding my homes). Next week, I think I’ll go to the bank and write myself a $30,000 check and deposit it in my savings account. I don’t have $30,000 in my checking account, but that shouldn’t matter. When the $30,000 is deposited in my savings account I’ll pay off all my bills. All I should have to really worry about is a possible $25 return check fee.
The difference between that scenario and what our Executive and Legislative branches of government is doing is that we can’t afford the “return check fee”. My kids can’t afford that fee. Maybe by the time my kids have kids, we’ll be able to pay off the fee, but then we have to worry about the matter of the $30,000 that was spent we never had to begin with. The bank will want that money back too. An even bigger matter is that we’re not talking just $30,000. We’re talking about $10 trillion!!
Now, we have the President asking for the other $350 billion from the $700 billion bailout (which was really closer to $900 billion, but what’s a few billion anyway?) and the President Select Elect is talking up his plan to spend ANOTHER $775 billion to “stimulate” the economy.
I need to have my roof professionally repaired and replaced. I live in a 12 year old house and it could use some updating. The wind and rain from the past year has uprooted some shingles. The gutters are falling off and dangling in places. It’s in bad shape. So, last May I paid a roofer about $1500 to fix the roof and rain gutters.
Around October, it started raining again but my shingles weren’t replaced, the rain gutters still hung at places and now I had leaks in the roof and sagging on the east side. So, I asked Emily to budget in $7000 that I gave to the roofer to fix this problem once and for all. It was almost Winter and if the roof wasn’t fixed before that time, it would be catastrophic! The roofer accepted the money and I gave him another $1900 for a tip.
Alabama has been suffering from a drought for a few years now. However, the rains from the past few months has pretty much wiped that out. Now, we’re flooding all over the place. My roof is still leaking, but the gutters no longer hang. They fell off. My roof is in the worst shape of its life. So, I called the roofer and asked him to stand by because I’m going to ask Emily for another $7750 that I’m going to pay the roofer to fix our problems. Make sense to you?
It doesn’t make sense to me either, yet that’s exactly what is happening in this country. We’re throwing money away. Only we didn’t really throw away $1500 in May. This country threw away $152 billion in “economic stimulus” money. We didn’t waste $8,900 on useless roof repairs, we spent $890 billion on a bailout to incompetent businesses (I know, I know, “only $350 billion has technically only been wasted SO FAR). Now, we’re not asking for another $7,750 dollars to pay a roofer who hasn’t fixed the roof yet; we’re asking for $775 billion to hire 600,000 plumbers to fix all the roofs in the country.
What has all that money done? It sure didn’t “stimulate the economy”. It hasn’t helped “Main Street” any with their mortgages. It would have been better spent on financial counseling and large whips which which to beat the people who bought the houses they can’t afford.
The good news in all of this is that the magic roof fairy, Roofbama, is going to sprinkle his fairy dust on my house and everything will be okay. But, I have to wait until January 20th when his powers are fully charged and evil fairy slayer Bushwhacker is abolished from the land.
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Anatomy of a Military Dating Scam
Lisa: I also met him on Are You Interested... and got the poems :-) If
Gene
I can’t say anything else about it, except WOW. Great write up CJ. I wish I could see the chart but I can imagine. If you have a chance could you email it to me as an attachment?
yankeemom
Spot on, CJ!!
I especially like the part about hiring “600,000 plumbers to fix all the roofs in the country”.
That just about sums up the effectiveness of the Congress.
Toni
Vavoom! What a great analogy and interesting take on the economy and Iraq’s involvement. Great job CJ.
raft
this is simply not true. Expenditures on the iraq war actually increased on a year-to-year basis from 2004-2008. we didn’t spend any less money there. the macro explanation is that the government took in more tax revenue during the last years of the housing bubble, and then after that the bottom of the economy fell out, collapsing revenues and forcing emerging spending. Please note that the graph does NOT show the actual national debt; it is the debt relative to GDP. The dramatic decline in debt as % of GDP during the Clinton years is not primarily a function of reduced discretionary spending (though a contributing factor) but the 1993 tax increases coupled with extremely robust economic growth. this may come as a shock, but the entire U.S. economy does not revolve around the military.
the “$350 billion” spent on the financial bailout is an extremely deceptive number. It does not include emergency loans made by the Federal Reserve to the banks, a sum which currently totals over $3-4 trillion. And THAT number does not include the trillions more injected into the world financial system by other countries. Put it together and the total bailout is over 10 trillion dollars at the least. Those who reflexively oppose government intervention in the economy should consider that number, 10 trillion, and imagine what would have happened if that capital had not been injected into the financial system. Yes, things are really shitty now. but we would be even worse off if all the major world banks HAD GONE BANKRUPT. unemployment would be at 15% and rising.
a well-designed stimulus package can ameliorate the effects of the recession while laying the foundation for future economic growth by making long overdue investments in areas like health care, infrastructure, and energy. The U.S. federal government is not like a household because it can (in the short run) borrow unlimited sums of money at what is now a near 0% interest rate. In the long run the debt must be controlled, but what matters is not its absolute size but the debt as a % of GDP. That is why we should make expensive investments now to spur long run economic growth.
raft
probably should have linked to sources:
Year over year Iraq War appropriations: http://middleeast.about.com/od/iraq/f/me080225b.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War#Appropriations
Cost of Financial Bailout:
http://abcnews.go.com/business/economy/story?id=6332892
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=an3k2rZMNgDw&
–Correction: it now appears the U.S. bailout is over $8.5 trillion. it was 3-4 trillion in November when I had last checked.
Projected effects of stimulus package:
http://otrans.3cdn.net/45593e8ecbd339d074_l3m6bt1te.pdf
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/01/08/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4707704.shtml
Pingback: Bear Creek Ledger » Different take on current debt
CJ
Raft,
Where are these numbers coming from? Who answered the question? What is the basis of the conclusion in the thing? Your link to war appropriations could have been written by anyone.
The author of this piece is Pierre Tristam, calling him unbiased would be an extrme understatement. This is the same man (a Lebanese-American) who places the blame on current Israeli/Palestinian war squarely in Israel’s shoulder.
Pierre also perpetuates the myth that the surge did NOTHING despite all the facts and proofs in contradiction.
Finally you link to “projected effects” of all these stimulus packages. The initial one approved a year ago in February was supposed to fix things immediately. The “projected effects” didn’t happen. The additional $350 billion of the $890 billion that’s already been paid out did nothing either. Now you want to swallow your fish hook with “projected effects” of more of the same?! Please.
Like I said in my post, we’re just giving money to plumbers to fix the the problem with the roof. Nice try though. At least your comment sounded plausible.
Donna
Great post CJ..Thank You! I don’t know how this country can afford more stimulus as they call it! I don’t pretend to know what the answer is to our financial problems but it seems to me that alot of the big businesses have squandered alot of the money.
raft
Sorry, i just goggled for some quick links and I should have looked for something more official. Here is data directly from Congress:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/89xx/doc8971/02-11-WarCosts_Letter.pdf
Official 2008 Congressional Budget Office analysis of war appropriations (including both Iraq and Afghanistan). See Table 1 on p. 2 which shows that estimated total war appropriations increased from $74 billion in 2004 to $165 billion in 2008. See also Table 4 on p.11 which shows that funding for reconstruction increased from $19 billion in 2006 to $52 billion in 2008.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf
Official Congressional Research Service analysis of war spending. See Table 1 on p.6 which shows that estimated costs of Iraq war operations increased from $75 billion in 2004 to $153 billion in 2008 (there is some discrepancy between the CBO and the CRS analyses, but that is to be expected. The trend is indisputable).
yes, last year’s stimulus didn’t do much, though not nothing either:
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/gdp/gdp_glance.htm
this graph shows that GDP expanded by 2.5% during the summer of 2008 despite the recession which started in december 2007, roughly consistent with what we would expect to happen given a $150 billion stimulus and otherwise flat or negative GDP growth. i agree, however, that regardless of this temporary effect the 2008 stimulus was a big waste of money. The key is to design a stimulus that is more than just mailing a bunch of 300 dollar rebate checks–the money spent should be worthwhile on its own terms, and represent investments/tax incentives that will spur long-run economic growth. (Most) of the current plan under discussion meets that standard.
Critical Facts
Good points, raft. But as you will quickly glean, intellectual honesty and thoughtfulness carries little weight around these parts. In other words, if you are not blindly supportive of bush and his plethora of miserable failures, you are deemed a traitor and an America-hater. Best of luck to you.
CJ
Raft, just check out all of CF’s responses for further proof of this thesis.
Also, Raft, you noticed that not once did I label you a “traitor” or an “America-hater”, though I will label Pierre as such (and CF). NY-David doesn’t agree with me and thinks Bush is a failure and I’ve never labeled him such either.
CF just has his panties in a wad because he’s the voice of unreason around here. I’m still digesting your second batch of links, which is why I haven’t responded.
raft
yeah, CF is a douche.
p.s. i don’t want to be a constant critic, because i like your blog. Just think your economic commentary could use some work.
Ted
The nation owes more than thanks to three unlikely modern day patriots: professional poker player, musician, and retired attorney, Leo Donofrio; life long Democrat and former Pennsylvania assistant attorney general, Phil Berg; and Soviet emigree and attorney, Dr. Orly Taitz (she’s also a dentist).
While Mr. Donofrio painstakingly established the airtight case that BHO could not be an Article II “natural born citizen†(at BHO’s birth, dad was British/Kenyan, not American, citizen) Leo’s Stay of the 12/15/08 electoral college vote was denied by SCOTUS as procedurally unripe.
Nevertheless, since no congressman and senator objected on 1/8/09 to Congress’ count and certification of the electoral vote which would have turned resolution of Obama’s eligibility issue over to Congress — rendering moot the Berg and Taitz (Lightfoot) cases — Berg finally does achieve standing on the issue of actual harm, to be addressed at the Friday 1/9/09 SCOTUS Conference on Writ of Certiorari. Obama’s failure to submit evidence of his constitutional qualification for the 1/9/09 conference will mean he cannot thereafter challenge Berg’s request to enjoin the 1/8/09 Congressional electoral count and certification, albeit retroactive, scheduled for SCOTUS conference Friday 1/16/09. Moreover, Chief Justice Roberts has scheduled a full Court conference on the Lightfoot case Friday 1/23/09 in the event there needs to be a Constitutionally mandated action, the Inauguration itself, to enjoin retroactively.
Now that BHO is in checkmate and cannot be POTUS, he can be a patriot as well. He need not subject the nation to the expense and trauma of requiring SCOTUS to overrule his ‘Presidency’. BHO can and should voluntarily step down with Biden becoming Acting POTUS under the 20th Amendment, and under the agreement all potential claims by the Government for itself and on behalf of others against BHO are released.
Critical Facts
Ted:
You are apparently in for a long 8 years of BHO. Get over it, you’ll sleep again at night!
NY-David
Geez, Ted. Nice legal words, but they don’t mean anything. He’s qualified and like it or not, he will be president.
NY-David
NY-David
Boy, and to think what would be said of Obama if he didn’t do anything about the economy. We are hopefully at the end of one part of a very expensive war. My concern is now what the Afghan part will cost. You recall that this is the one that was forgotten about and pawned off on NATO. This lawless country helped give rise the the big hole in the ground I drive past everyday.
Just started watching excerpts from IOUSA, which seems to be an even-handed look at the situation. Anyone else see it?
NY-David
CJ
Raft, I appreciate it. In no way do I consider myself an economic stud or expert. I appreciate and accept constructive criticism, which you have provided. David does as well. When I have been proven wrong I have said so.
I appreciate the links and haven’t read through them all. I probably can’t get to them tonight either as Mondays are set aside as family nights in my home. But, I will!
sue05
NY David, I don’t know about all of Ted’s post but I had read that SCOTUS has agreed to accept the case against Obama and consider it but have not read anything about them dropping it, so his post may not be all hooey. I guess it is a wait n see kind of thing.
Blast
$5,728,195,796,181.57 official national debt 22/Jan/2001
$10,627,708,753,691.49 official national debt as of 15/Jan/2009
accumulated debt in the past 8 years $4,899,512,957,509.92, nearly doubling the national debt in 8 years. (data from the Treasury Dept) And growing at a faster rate each day.