Local Talk Show Hosts & the National Debt Debate

I was listening to a local morning radio talk show host on Monday speaking about the current national debate on spending, debt and taxes. I was appalled at the misinformation being aired to the listening public, being presented as reasoned, informed thought. Heres the other side. The fact that we are here today to debate raising Americas debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government cant pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Governments reckless fiscal policies. Increasing Americas debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. If you thought this quote came from a Republican. You would be wrong. The above quote came from Senator Barak Obama of Illinois on March 20, 2006. At the time, Obama was urging Congress to stand firm against an increase of the debt ceiling to $9 trillion. Yet curiously, as president, Mr. Obama has raised the debt ceiling to over $14.3 trillion, and demands more. This has become the genesis of the grassroots Tea Party movement, who interestingly enough are vigorously defending the very correct concept former Senator Obama championed in March 2006. Vice President Joe Biden lashed out Tea Party Republicans recently, accusing them of having acted like terrorists in the current debate. So now patriotic Americans, of varying ethnic backgrounds, working to curb excessive taxes, federal spending and the national debt are considered terrorists by an administration & political party that refuses to call real terrorists Terrorists. It seems to me that the race card is now ineffective for labeling Republicans. Terrorist is the new label if you disagree with the Democratic Party. So much for the calming of vitriolic rhetoric in the national discourse following the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Yet another local talk show host notoriously implied that Sarah Palin was somehow responsible for that incident. Many of you deeply believe the distortion that this is all George W. Bushs fault. Here are some verifiable facts that you need to know. The White House presents budgets, but doesnt control the budget process; Congress does. Democrats controlled all of Congress and the budget process for Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. In the last 3 years, Obama has produced only one budget, which was defeated 97-0 by the Democrat-controlled Senate earlier this year. In 2008, the Bush administrations deficit was approximately $600 billion by the start of the financial crisis due to the recession. Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the final months of his presidency, which bumped the deficit to a net $800 billion, because $500 billion of the TARP loans had been quickly repaid, and that was the real deficit Obama inherited. President Obama added to that deficit with stimulus spending, taking the first year total to $1.3 trillion. $1.4 trillion in FY2009 and $1.6 trillion in FY2010 were Obama deficits, effectively, doubling the deficit when compared to Bushs final year in office. Obamas spending is totally and qualitatively different from the TARP money that inflated Bushs final deficit in 2008, in that Obama was spending borrowed money, not lending. Unlike TARP, the stimulus spending will never be paid back. For FY2009, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bypassed George Bush completely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. They also passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY2009 budget. Obama, supported it as a senator and he signed the omnibus bill as President.

Doesnt anyone find it curious that the failed policies of the Bush Administration; Guantanamo, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, are being continued by President Obama? Kind of hard to blame Bush for Libya. Instead of blaming Bush, Obama should say, "I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I expanded that deficit four-fold since I took office." Mr. Obama, instead of threatening seniors & soldiers with not getting their money; why not threaten to not pay yourself, all the senators, representatives and associated staffers in the executive and legislative branches of government? Wouldnt that be both fair and leading by example? Just a thought. Republicans, specifically the Tea Party caucus, have simply forced the current debate into the open for all of America to see, Virgin Islanders included. My point is that our local talk show hosts need to be mindful of what they tell the public. What they are doing is fomenting ignorance when they broadcast their partisan opinions as gospel.