The one thing all Democratic politicians have in common is that they could not do well in the real world. Most could not run a business or organize a high school musical. If you are financially inept, D.C. is the best place to be, since there is safety in numbers.
As a result, we have people running America’s finances who have spent their lives spending other people’s money, rather than their own. Anthony Weiner could not even get hired as a Wal-Mart greeter; no store would want to have anyone out front that “happy” to see customers.
When George Bush had the checkbook, then-junior Senator Barack Obama said raising the debt ceiling was immoral. Now he says it is immoral not to raise it. I guess your morals change once you become president.
The two parties cannot seem to agree on any spending cuts. They should at least stop funding “The Real Housewives of D.C.”
Politicians always use scare tactics to get their way. Bush did it with the Patriot Act and Obama did it with the stimulus bill (a.k.a. the “Union Supporter Payback Porkulus Bill”). Now he is using the debt to scare us all. Obama has said that if we don’t raise spending, as he wants, the U.S. debt rating could go from AAA to C. This will not happen; but, if it did, it would not be too bad. Ask any waitresses in D.C. Their tips from politicians and lobbyists got better when they went from AAA to C.
Obama now says he wants to raise the debt limit another trillion dollars or so. That way we can continue spending money we don’t have until we are out of debt. This would take our debt from $14 to 15 trillion. Fifteen is not a good number unless you are Roman Polanski or Woody Allen.
You cannot spend more than you have. If that bit of wisdom wins me the Nobel Prize for Economics, I will give the plaque to my third-grade teacher.
Like my buddy Jim Ross says, “Politicians are like pigs at a trough: They will eat everything in there, no matter how little or how much you put in.”
Not raising the debt ceiling does not “bankrupt” us. It just cuts off the bar tab of the drunks in Washington, D.C. They still have plenty of cash flow to pay interest on the tab they ran up in the past; they just can’t order more rounds of drinks for themselves and their buddies.
The government takes in about $2.16 trillion annually in revenue from the taxes it takes from us. Politicians spend $3.7 trillion, resulting in an annual $1.6 trillion deficit. The feds currently borrow about 40 cents for every dollar they spend. We are just asking them to stop this and to make some of the same hard spending choices each American family or business has recently had to make.
The annual interest charge on the debt they have run up is $385 billion. We pay it anyway, but with $2.16 trillion coming in each year, the income-to-debt-coverage ratio is 5.5 times. Paying the debt you owe and ending with less debt is a good thing. Somehow Washington is more concerned about blame than it is about simple math.
Instead of addressing the real issue, Obama resorts to his standard class warfare. He says, “The rich need to pay their fair share.” Let me tell you two things I have learned: (1) When someone says “your fair share,” you are talking to a liberal who is trying to get into your wallet; and (2) When someone wants to “share” or have “fellowship” with you, he wants to try to convert you to his religion.
Never mind that the top 5% percent of Americans, those who have businesses and hire employees, pay 58% of federal income taxes. Half the country pays none. It comes as a surprise to most of us that we are “rich,” according to Obama’s demagoguery. People in the 75th percentile of income earners in U.S. make an annual adjusted gross income of just $67,280. You greedy SOBs, what with your work ethic, paying taxes, driving your fancy 2007 Impala and providing for your family — you should be ashamed.
Ron Hart is a syndicated humorist, award-winning author and TV/radio commentator. Email Ron@RonaldHart.com or visit www.RonaldHart.com.