After doubling the deficit in a year, Obama claims he'll cut it in half in 4 years. So what? Then it will be back down to where it was when he took office. Is that supposed to be some kind of accomplishment? It's kind of like an arsonist burning a building to the ground, then expecting people to applaud when the arsonist says he'll rebuild it. And he has no intentions of meeting this goal anyway. It's just rhetoric to appease some misguided moderates.
Why not claim he will actually balance the budget and pay off some of the 12+ trillion dollar debt racked up?
In my opinion, at this point it doesn't really matter more. We're just going to keep dancing until the music stops. The US is insolvent. There is no way this government can pay back ANY of its debt. It won't. That means we're just waiting for the day to come where foreigners no longer loan us any of their wealth. Interest rates will sky rocket or Fed will hyperinflate us like some broke 3rd world country (they have alreay been aggressively inflating our money supply recently) to pay back debt using printed money.
Unfortunately I believe we have remained on the one way road to complete dollar collapse. The government believes they can con the rest of the world into supporting us forever. To clean up their act and put the country on a sound economic footing is considered too painful for politicians to agree to. Instead they just driving full speed ahead toward the edge of the cliff.
lostinwilderness:Obama claims he'll cut it in half in 4 years.
A laughable propositon with the current magnitude of the federal deficit, and when there has yet been any curtailing of present spending - only promises to cut future spending.
Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found.
- Edmund Burke
bearing01:The government believes they can con the rest of the world into supporting us forever.
That's exactly right, and it's in the news today too. Hillary Clinton begs the Chinese to continue buying US debt. The mentality is the same as the bailout madness. The aristocrats will make the case to other countries that the US is too big to fail. That argument won't work much longer.
Former Clinton Labor Sec. Robert Reich advises Obama to keep on spending and not repeat FDR's mistake of spending too little. How in the world to we allow insane people like this to gain power? When the country collapses from too much debt, these insane people will still say the country didn't spend enough.
It is rhetoric, as you said, and absolutely impossible. He'd have to have at least half the federal budget allocated towards payment of debts, and I don't think the [strike]leeches[/strike] politicians have the intestinal fortitude to cut back welfare/entitlement/social security.
Oh man!
Obama and the deficit. lol Sounds a "a boy and his dog"
Buy everything cheap while you can because when the currency collapses we should all just start bartering and trading goods and services. Build all the debt you want buying things to trade later because your debt will not matter at that point. This could be a fun time as long as you do not mind government created chaos.