"Even if we look at the total outstanding debt, which includes money the government owes to itself, Obama hasn't accumulated more debt than all other presidents. Total outstanding debt was $10.6 trillion when the president was sworn in; it has increased by $3.7 trillion to $14.3 trillion."How many times was it the Republicans raised the debt ceiling again under President Bush? Five times the ceiling was raised, with nineteen times many of the current leadership, including Eric Cantor and John Boehner and Mitch McConnell voted to do so. That resulted in five times over the 8 years of the Bush Administration that the debt ceiling was raised, after the Bush administration started with a SURPLUS from Clinton's administration. Republicans, particularly Bush, campaigned on paying off the debt in 10 years.
Instead: June 2002 - a $450 Billion increase; May 2003 - a $900 Billion increase; November 2004 - $800 Billion increase; March 2006 - $781 Billion increase; September 2007 - $850 Billion increase.
NINETEEN TIMES they voted to raise the debt ceiling!!
"But while the four Republicans in Congressional leadership positions are attempting to hold the increase hostage now, they combined to vote for a debt limit increase 19 times during the presidency of George W. Bush. In doing so, they increased the debt limit by nearly $4 trillion."
Hypocrite Republicans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These would be the same Republicans, particularly Eric Cantor (and John Boehner), who, in the words of Wikipedia:
"In October 2008, Cantor advocated and voted for the TARP program which aided distressed banks.[29]"Not surprsingly, Cantor was a campaign contribution recipient of donations from Citigroup, which benefitted from the TARP bailout.
Of course, Cantor who now will only approve aid for the Joplin, Missouri Tornado Disaster relief under the Obama Administration was a big supporter for Hurricane Katrina Relief for the gulf.........and was alleged to have received extensive campaign contributions from companies where FEMA services were privatized, including Dewberry in his home state of Virginia.
Perhaps the good people in Joplin, Missouri suffering from the Tornado Disaster, for whom Cantor and other Republicans won't vote aid, ( unless it is taken from the pockets of other people who are suffering, but never the wealthy or corporations who are their donors and who receive generous tax cuts and subsidies) should have realized that if they didn't bribe the Republicans with campaign donations they shouldn't expect to benefit from government funds?
The 2010 elections were really more of an auction than anything else, with the GOP looting government not to make it smaller, but to benefit their campaign donors at the expense of the citizens of the United States who are disaster victims.
Follow the money; it won't be going into the pockets of average Americans harmed by natural disasters. But it does tend to go to corporations and a very few very wealthy people. Follow the money; it goes to politicians and their campaigns. Shame on the GOP.
Hmmm ... follow the money .... okay, then the fair question to ask is how did Eric Cantor gain the insight that authorizing TARP would save the country (err ... I meant the the distressed banks) ?
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was over morning breakfast with his wife ... Diana.
Ms. Cantor was a Managing Director with New York Private Bank and Trust from January 2008 through the end of 2009. Ms. Cantor other work experience includes a five year stint as Vice President of Goldman, Sachs & Co.
If you haven't seen it, check out http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-june-2-2011/cantor-won-t-
Jon Stewart makes a compelling case using Cantor's " family spending " analogy.
BTW, have you heard Congressman Connie Mack's (R-FL) plan to cut spending by a penny ? Essentially, it requires every program to be cut 1% (or one penny for every dollar) ... thus everybody would be impacted ... my thoughts are that the alternative could be done for defense spending ... for every dollar in income, a penny is taken for defense spending ... no exemptions ... thus corporations that have been paying zero income tax, hedge-fund managers whose income is taxed at the lower capital gains rate (instead of ordinary income) and yes, even the minimum wage worker -- everyone - would pay a small portion. If this was done, do you think that America would maintain 10 Navy carrier groups which the Republicans want or would it be less ? (FYI - no other Navy has more than one.)
FYI – I did a little more research on this and it appears that the monies that will be used for disaster rebuilding will come from TARP funds … and since many Republicans want to forget that they ever voted for TARP (yep that would be Boehner, Cantor, Kline and Norm Coleman since that is the issue that cost him his Senate seat), that makes it easier for them.
ReplyDeleteThere is a problem with the funding … since Cold-hearted Banker Eric Cantor doesn’t want to raise the debt ceiling, so the funding will not be available until next fiscal year … when it will compete with other disasters like Mississippi flooding and tornados ranging from Alabama to right here in Minneapolis.
I wrote a commentary on disaster funding for the MN Political Roundtable and acknowledged your essay.