CALIFORNIA YANKEE

We aren't Broke? Really?

Below is a guest post by Scott Baker that seeks to begin a civil discussion about political issues that are not often talked about in debates and headlines. I was intrigued by the article and the issues it evokes, but I'm not sure I agree with Professor Baker's premise. How can we not be broke when the national debt is more than $18 Trillion. As I have written before, back when our national debt was ONLY $14 Trillion, Just How Broke Are We? 

Are You a Liberal or a Conservative? Are You Sure?

Quick, without looking at the answers - or at what your favorite pundit is saying - how would you answer the following questions? Is it Liberal or Conservative?

1. Being opposed to rescuing the big financial institutions

2. Wanting America to become (more) energy self- sufficient

3. Being in favor of expanding the Space Program

4. Supporting Family Farms

5. Supporting Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion

6. Supporting a check on the Executive and Legislative branches by the Judicial branch

7. Being in favor of a strong National Parks system, wherein the Parks are preserved for recreational use, kept clean and safe, and not for commercial development

8. Being in favor of strong enforcement of the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act

9. Support of a strong and well-funded Veteran's Administration system for the health needs of former soldiers

10. Wanting to preserve Medicare and Social Security for future generations

11. Wanting to balance the Federal budget (somehow)

12. Being in support of monitored, open, and verifiable Elections

Whether you identify yourself as Liberal or Conservative, please find some friends or family who identify themselves as the opposite from you and ask the same questions.

You may be surprised at how close your answers are to each other. For example, on question 14, Conservatives and Liberals may both want to end the deficit spending that's ballooned since Ronald Reagan - though Conservatives want to do it typically by cutting spending, and Liberals want to do it typically by collecting more taxes from the affluent. I think Conservatives will be surprised how many Liberals support a strong space program (#3) -- as long as it is demilitarized -- while Liberals will be surprised at how many Conservatives are in favor of supporting the Family Farm (#4).

So yes, we may disagree on the methods of obtaining the goals, but we can still agree on the actual goals.

Then what is going on here? Why are we shouting at each other in the media, in the streets, and in person? Could it be that we are not as divided as we believe, or even that we have a common enemy, something that we can almost all agree to dislike, even oppose?

Here is another question to help clarify things: Do you agree with the following statement: America should be a country where anyone who works hard and honestly, can obtain a better life for themselves and their families? -or- Is America a country where anyone who works hard and honestly, can obtain a better life for themselves and their families?

I am willing to bet more of you answered yes to the first question than to the second. In fact, the majority of answers for each question might even be reversed. This is bad. This means the American Dream - paraphrased above, has come into serious doubt.

Why? Well, take a look at the your answers to the questions and those of your friends' of opposite political identification. Discuss. Does a common theme something like the following emerge: ordinary people do not have the same opportunities and rights as certain very wealthy people and corporations in America today? That is, do you and your friends who identify themselves as from the opposite political spectrum agree that something is just not quite right in the system (anymore)?

Perhaps you are not so opposite after all.

Perhaps as President Obama used to say, there really is more that unites us than divides us. I'll leave it to you to decide to whose advantage it is to make us think we have less in common than we do. Politicians pandering for votes without really doing anything about the big problems? Media—including those pundits with vocal opinions and big ratings on TV? Big Corporations—who make us act against our own self-interests in order to preserve their profits?

Is there a moral difference from someone who becomes rich by creating a "better mousetrap” (e.g. a way to charge an electric car in 5 minutes and get 300 miles on a charge, a cure for cancer, etc.) vs. someone who lives off the wealth of his ancestor's fortune, or who collects “rent” from others who are creating that better mousetrap, or are working for those who do? Or, to put it more generally, is it OK to get rich from the results of your own labor, but not OK to get rich from monopolizing resources while simply profiting from their scarcity?

If you answered Yes, you might want to consider if there is another way America should reward its citizens. Some way that supports the innovation and productivity that springs from the Free Market of ideas, while at the same time, doesn't reward people who have "gamed the system” through favorable laws or connections, while not really producing anything of value. Note: if you think committing fraud while providing borrowers with loans they ultimately cannot repay, then stop here. Put the test down.

See a pattern yet? Americans, and perhaps all decent people, believe in rewarding someone who works hard and honestly to get ahead, but not in rewarding someone who just gets ahead by manipulating laws and the system, or who monopolizes resources and corrupts the system to exclude others from competing.

What kind of system would let you have it both ways? Consider that the common opponent of both Liberals and Conservatives may be the same: the Monopolizers of resources - natural, but also including political and monetary power.

Now, knowing that it is not the country that is poor, it is the people (or, at least, too many of the people), where should our focus lie? Should we spend our time making largely false accusations at people we have allowed others to label as different from us, or at the real source of the problem, the 1% of the people who own 40% of the country's wealth or 50% of global wealth, via a monopoly, and not from production (which alone cannot provide that kind of wealth)?

Maybe we should return to that question I put aside earlier: In whose interest is it that we fight against each other?

​Scott Baker is a professor at the Henry George School, the State Coordinator of the NY Chapter of The Public Banking Institute,  and the author is America Is Not Broke! 

The most dangerous issue of our time

As regular readers know the national debt is an issue we are very concerned about and discuss here frequently. Today we are pleased to publish an original op-ed concerning the danger posed by the national debt by Murray T Holland, author of "A Nation In The Red."

The National Debt: The Most Dangerous Issue of Our Time

By Murray T. Holland

I wrote A Nation in the Red as a call to action for concerned citizens to save this country before we become inextricably caught in the debt trap that has shocked the economies of so many countries. Moms and dads, and especially moms and dads of children in their teens, twenties and thirties (this is the generation that will shoulder the burden of this debt), need to become informed of the problems that this much debt creates and make an issue out of it with all your friends, colleagues, schools and businesses. That is the action step that each concerned parent must take.

The first question most people ask is how much debt do we really have? Today, we have a pile of debt that equals the debt level we had in 1945 after World War II. That debt was 120% of our total economy or Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The ratio of debt to GDP is the best method of assessing how much debt we have. The U.S. has $12 trillion borrowed from the public which is real cash borrowed. It also has $5 trillion that it borrowed from various trust funds like Social Security it manages. This money is not real debt since the government will have to fund Social Security out of tax receipts from any source. Our government does have, however, $7.5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities that in the real world of accounting is a real liability. In total, we have $19.5 trillion in liabilities, which is 122% of GDP.  This amount exceeds our debt levels at the end of World War II and doubles the amount of debt the European Union set as a safe level for its members. U.S. now has the ninth worst debt/GDP in the world. Further, as deficit rates exceed GDP growth rates, the debt/GDP ratio continues to get worse. This by itself is a BIG RED FLAG.

Interest expense on the national debt is what sinks countries. The zero interest rate environment we have today masks the underlying problem. When we return to normal interest rates (6%), our interest expense will jump to $720 billion/year or 25% of tax receipts. We are watching what happens to countries with our debt problems in real time. Spain, Portugal, Greece, Argentina and close behind Italy and France, are on their knees; all brought down by excess debt.

For countries that get to our debt levels, there are unfortunately only five methods out of the trap. The most used method is default and repudiation. Unfortunately for all of us, this method would devastate the world economy and needs to be avoided. The second method just recently created is a bailout, which of course is not available to us due to our size. The third method is pay the debt with newly printed money, but this has hyper-inflation side effects. The two remaining methods are grow the economy and balance the budget by spending cuts and tax increases. If we utilize the last two, my calculation is that we will be back to a 35% debt/GDP ratio in 36 years of good growth and balanced budgets. This is where we were in 2008, five short years ago.

Murray T. Holland is a 30-year veteran of the finance industry and managing director of Dallas-based MHT Partners. He is the author of a Nation in the Red (McGraw Hill, October 25, 2013). Readers are encouraged to visit ANationintheRed.com for more resources.

A quick look back at Obama's first term

"Those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government." -- Barack Hussein Obama, Inaugural Address January 20, 2009

There were many things that were disappointing about President Obama's first term. 

The good folks at Reason TV take a look at some of the disappointments in a new video retrospective of Obama's rhetoric versus reality including:

• Trillion dollar deficits.
• Obama's failure to submit a budget on time.
• The Senate's failure to pass a budget in nearly four years.
• Irresponsible spending.
• Failed stimulus.
• Crony capitalism like Solyndra.
• Failure to keep the ObamaCare transparency promise.
• Failure to keep his promise to reform immigration during his first year.

You can watch the video below:

There was much to bedisappointed about during Obama's first term. But the most disappointing thing about Obama's first term was the irresponsible and out of control spending.

Today, the national debt is $16,432,631,489,854.70. It was $10,626,877,048,913.08 when Obama became president. That is an increase of more than a 5.8 trillion dollars during Obama's first term.

In 2004, when the deficit was $413 billion and the national debt was $7,419,244,676,835.15 or $7.4 trillion, Obama said the "monstrous federal deficit" was an "enormous problem." On July 3, 2008, presidential candidate Obama said that adding $4 trillion in debt was "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic." Nevertheless, President Obama added more than $5.8 trillion to the national debt in four years.

President Obama has promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first time at least five times:

1. February 23, 2009: Obama Pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.
2. February 24, 2009: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.
3. May 26, 2009: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office
4. December 8, 2009: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.
5. February 14, 2011: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.

Despite his promises to cut the deficit in half by the end of his "first" term, Obama has racked up the largest deficits in U.S. history:

• FY2009: The federal budget deficit was $1.413 trillion, the highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2011: The federal budget deficit was $1.299 trillion, the second highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2010: The federal budget deficit was $1.294 trillion, the third highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2012 The federal budget deficit was $1.090 trillion, the fourth highest in U.S. history. ("An Analysis of the President’s 2013 Budget," Congressional Budget Office, 10/5/12)

You shouldn't be shocked by Obama's failure to reduce the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office. He did warn us there would be "trillion-dollar deficits for years to come."

The president and his Obamacrats need to get serious about the irresponsible spending. Obama has not submitted a single budget on time. And when Obama's budgets are submitted they are so "unserious" that for the last two years they haven't even received a single vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate. And the Senate hasn't passed a budget in 1,365 days, almost four years. Congress has failed to adequately address the problem by continuing raise the debt limit and borrow more and more until we now have a $16.4 trillion national debt. Can we continue down this road and avoid bankruptcy?

Happy 'Deficit Day'

You are familiar with the Tax Foundation's "Tax Freedom Day" -- the date by which the average American has earned enough to pay his taxes for the year. This year Tax Freedom Day finally arrived on April 17th. To borrow a phrase from President Obama, let me be clear, on average Americans, must use every penny they earned from January 1st until April 17th to pay their taxes for the year.

One of my favorite economists, Professor Antony Davies, and his colleague, James R. Harrigan, suggest we also celebrate what they call "Deficit Day" to focus Americans' attention on the on fact that we are headed to bankruptcy. They explain it all in an excellent article they published at Real Clear Markets.

"Deficit Day" is the date by which federal tax revenues run dry and the federal government begins adding even more debt on top of our exploding $16 Trillion national debt. This year Deficit Day falls on September 10th.

According to Davies and Harrigan, everything the government spends from now until the end of the year will be borrowed. They say we haven't seen a balanced budget since the Eisenhower administration:

Conventional wisdom holds that the Clinton administration ran surpluses. But this is a twisting of the facts. It is true that the debt held by the public-which excludes money the government borrows from the Social Security trust fund-declined by $433 billion from 1997 to 2001. But, over those same years, the government borrowed $827 billion from the Social Security trust fund. In other words, the only way to claim that the Clinton administration ran surpluses is to admit that the government has no intention of paying back that $827 billion it borrowed from Social Security.

You wouldn't believe how broke the U.S. already is. We simply cannot continue to tax and spend and borrow as we have. I have previously written that Professor Davies calculates the debt and unfunded obligations of the federal government to total $64.09 trillion. An amount greater than the "economic output of the entire planet." That's right, the entire planet.

If current trends continue, the U.S. will become operationally bankrupt in 2037 and will be actually bankrupt in 2047.

Happy Deficit Day.

Can the U.S. avoid bankruptcy?

The Congress doesn't cut spending and balance the budget because they can't. Not even if they remove every department and employee including the military.

So says Hal Mason in the shocking accompanying video titled, "United States Budget Dilemma."

President Obama, in his proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget, would spend $3.8 trillion. But the federal government will only collect $2.5 trillion in taxes, resulting in a deficit of $1.3 trillion. That $1.3 trillion is an amount larger than Congress appropriates to operate the federal budget.

The problem is easily stated; spending on mandatory programs and interest is greater than taxes collected. According to Mason, in order to balance the budget, Congress would have to raise taxes 50 percent or eliminate the federal government.

You can watch the "United States Budget Dilemma" video here.

Congress has failed to adequately address the problem by continuing raise the debt limit and borrow more and more until we now have a $16 Trillion national debt. $16 Trillion exceeds 100 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and is 25 percent of the world's gross domestic product. Worse the Democrat-controlled Senate hasn't even passed a budget in over three years.

Back in February 2011, I wrote "Just How broke are we?" about Duquesne University Economics Professor Antony Davies' analysis about the debt and unfunded obligations of the federal government totaling more than $64 Trillion. I asked Professor Davies about Molson's video. He said the figures in the video match his calculations, which are straightforward. Professor Davies agrees, mandatory spending currently exceeds federal tax revenues, so shutting down the entirety of what most people think of as "the government" will still not balance the budget.

Professor Davies also explained that if current trends continue the U.S. will become operationally bankrupt in 2037 and will be actually bankrupt in 2047. And that ignores  the potential effects of ObamaCare.

Bankruptcy occurs when the annual interest on the debt equals federal revenue. At this
point, it becomes mathematically impossible for the government to avoid default.

Operational bankruptcy occurs when the annual interest on the debt equals federal
revenue less discretionary spending. At this point, it becomes impossible for the
government to fund anything other than mandatory spending (which includes welfare,
Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security, veterans services, and interest on the debt). Under
the Antideficiency Act, Federal agencies must cease operations (except in emergencies)
when they lack funding.

There is no easy answer to our budget dilemma. We must reform entitlements. As the Greek experience shows, any viable solution will be painful for everyone.

Tax dollars paying for 'marketing of livestock semen'

You can't make this stuff up. Your tax dollars are being used to market "livestock semen."

 

Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) has put together a new study titled "Treasure Map: The Market Access Program's Bounty of Waste, Loot and Spoils Plundered from Taxpayers." The report released today found that the federal government has spent more than $2 billion on a program to promote private companies marketing products overseas.

 

The Coburn report found the following:

At the request of Congress, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has spent more than two billion dollars on the Market Access Program (MAP), a government program that uses your tax dollars to subsidize the advertising costs of profitable agriculture companies and trade associations doing business overseas. Many Americans might respond with disbelief that we are paying for private companies to market their products in the first place. That we are doing so overseas is even more troubling.

The most objectionable provision of the study found that your tax dollars are being used to market "livestock semen" at foreign trade show and exhibitions:

Taxpayers may be surprised to learn that their tax dollars are subsidizing, among other things, the marketing of livestock semen. According to an announcement from U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, Inc., group that received $1.1 million from the USDA in 2011, federal funds are available for "private livestock breeders, companies, or cooperatives interested in promoting livestock, semen, or embryo sales in international markets through December 31, 2010." The group also notes that the MAP funds partial reimbursement of "approved activities such as international advertising, the development, translation and distribution of promotional materials, and participation in foreign trade shows and exhibitions."

One Congressional Aid said that "this stimulus program is particularly popular with the livestock community."  All kidding aside, when somebody tells you that there is no waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, you can point to this one program as a shining example of government waste.

 

Other highlights of the Coburn report are $28 million to the Blue Diamond Growers to market almonds overseas, $60 million to California Wine Institute and $20 million to fund "Let's Design," a popular reality show in India created by the Cotton Council International.

Our nation is in debt to the tune of $15.8 trillion. Even though Obama promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his term, he has consistently racked up annual deficits in excess of $1 trillion and has exploded the $10.6 trillion debt he inherited. After all, Obama did warn us there would be "trillion-dollar deficits for years to come."

A few million on silly programs, like using your tax dollars to market livestock semen, may sound like a drop in the bucket, yet it shows the reluctance of Congress and the President to go line by line in the federal budget to root out waste.

National debt increases $1.4 million every half minute

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies has launched a new ad "Stopwatch," focused on the impact of President Obama's failure to reduce the national debt:

In the 30-odd seconds it takes to watch the ad, the national debt increases by $1.4 million.

Announcing the new ad, Steven Law, president of Crossroads GPS, said:

"While Europe is in the throes of debt-fueled economic crisis, President Obama keeps spending and charging more on the nation’s maxed-out credit cards. We want to encourage a serious debate on the national debt that transcends President Obama’s class-warfare tax hikes."

Crossroads is spending $7 million to air "Stopwatch" in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Today, the national debt is $15,724,907,364,995.04. It was $10,626,877,048,913.08 when Obama became president. That is an increase of more than a five trillion dollars during in the forty months of the Obama presidency.

On July 3, 2008, Presidential candidate Obama said that adding $4 trillion in debt was "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic."

Despite his promises to cut the deficit in half by the end of his "first" term, Obama has racked up the largest deficits in U.S. history:

• FY2009: The federal budget deficit was $1.413 trillion, the highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2011: The federal budget deficit was $1.299 trillion, the second highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2010: The federal budget deficit was $1.294 trillion, the third highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• The CBO projects the deficit at the end of Obama’s first term will be $1.253 trillion, Obama’s fourth straight trillion deficit. ("An Analysis Of The President’s 2013 Budget," Congressional Budget Office, 3/16/12)

You shouldn't be shocked by Obama's failure to reduce the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office. He did warn us there would be "trillion-dollar deficits for years to come."

It could have been even worse. According to the Washington Post's factchecker, every year President Obama has wanted to spend more money than Congress would allow.

Sen. Ron Johnson delivers weekly GOP address - Obama grew debt, not economy.

In the weekly GOP address, Wisconsin's U.S. Ron Johnson takes the president to task for the failed Obama economic policies:

"We are all disappointed by the failure of President Obama’s economic policies… His budget busting stimulus plan grew government, grew our debt, but failed to grow our economy."

You can watch Senator Johnson's terrific address below:

Senator Johnson starts by noting that it has now been more than three years since Harry Reid’s Democrat-controlled do-nothing Senate passed a budget and points out that Obama has done nothing to encourage the Senate to pass a budget. This week in the Senate, the President's budget lost by a vote of 0 - 99. Last month, it failed in the House by a vote of 0 - 414. And last year, Obama's budget lost by a 0 - 97 vote in the Senate:

"This is a stunning repudiation of his leadership.  At a time when America requires sober financial management, President Obama's fiscal plans have been so unserious, that not a single member his own party supported them with their vote.

Without a budget, is it any wonder that America's fiscal house is in total disarray?"

Not only did the Senate reject Obama's "unserious" budget, it also rejected four Republican alternative budgets.

In the second part of the weekly address, Senator Jonson talks about Obama's failed economic policies and how those policies have grown government, grown our debt, but have failed to grow our economy:

"Instead of concentrating on job creation, President Obama has concentrated on growing government and increasing its control over our lives.

[. . .]

The President and members of his Administration are true believers in big government. They point to the 46 million Americans now on food stamps as a metric of success. It is not. It is a metric of failure that highlights how his policies have not put Americans back to work.

Because of his policies, dependence on government has increased, and individual opportunity has declined."

Obama's policies have caused gas prices to more than double, increased the national debt by more than $5 trillion and failed to get unemployment below 8 percent.

 Despite his promises to cut the deficit in half by the end of his "first" term, Obama has racked up the largest deficits in U.S. history:

• FY2009: The federal budget deficit was $1.413 trillion, the highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2011: The federal budget deficit was $1.299 trillion, the second highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2010: The federal budget deficit was $1.294 trillion, the third highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• The CBO projects the deficit at the end of Obama’s first term will be $1.253 trillion, Obama’s fourth straight trillion deficit. ("An Anlysis Of The President’s 2013 Budget," Congressional Budget Office, 3/16/12)

You shouldn't be shocked by Obama's failure to reduce the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office. He did warn us there would be "trillion-dollar deficits for years to come."

 Senator Johnson ends on an optimistic note calling this the “time to return to the values and principles that made this country great":

"I grew up in an America that valued hard work and celebrated success. America became the economic engine of the world, not because of government, but because millions of Americans had the freedom to pursue their dreams.

We can reclaim this heritage once again and build a society where hard work is rewarded and every American has the opportunity to succeed"

The full transcript of Senator Johnson's address follows:

"Hi, I’m Ron Johnson, from the great state of Wisconsin. 16 months ago, with no previous political experience, I began serving in Senator Harry Reid’s do-nothing Senate.

It is hard to convey how frustrating it has been.

My background is in accounting and manufacturing in the private sector. Like most Americans, I’m used to getting things done…producing results.

The American people understand that we are facing enormous economic challenges. And they’re looking for solutions, not political games.

They have every right to expect their elected officials to be responsible and accountable. We should be making the tough decisions, taking the hard votes, and developing real solutions to our nation's urgent problems.

But that's not what's happening in the United States Senate.

It has been over three years since the Senate passed a budget. Think about that.  Even though families and most businesses produce budgets to help control their finances, the largest financial entity in the world is operating without one.

Why?  Because Democrats in the Senate refuse to be held accountable. They either don't have a plan, or they simply do not want their fingerprints on one. Maybe that's because their plans generally rely on taking more money out of the pockets of hardworking American families.

Republicans have proven that we are willing to be held accountable. Since regaining a majority in the House, Republicans have fulfilled our responsibility every year by passing a budget. But so far, those good faith efforts have died in the Democrat-led Senate.

For his part, President Obama has done nothing to encourage the Senate to pass a budget. Just this week in the Senate, the President's budget lost by a vote of 0 - 99. Last month, it failed in the House by a vote of 0 - 414. And last year, his budget lost 0 - 97 in the Senate.

This is a stunning repudiation of his leadership. At a time when America requires sober financial management, President Obama's fiscal plans have been so unserious, that not a single member his own party supported them with their vote.

Without a budget, is it any wonder that America's fiscal house is in total disarray?

President Obama has submitted four budgets, but none of them ever included a plan to save Social Security or Medicare. These are important programs that millions of Americans rely on. Without reform, they will not survive. And yet President Obama offers no solutions.

And because of the exploding debt caused by his failed policies, Americans are suffering every day from a faltering economy, and the prospects for our children and grandchildren are being diminished.

If you’re concerned about the financial future of America, these are not encouraging results.

We all want to see America prosper. We all want every American to have an equal opportunity to build a good life for themselves and their family.

And we are all disappointed by the failure of President Obama’s economic policies.

President Obama promised far more. If we had only known that at this point during his term in office:

-Average gas prices would more than double,

-Our nation’s debt would increase by $5.3 trillion,

-And unemployment would never fall below 8%.

Instead of concentrating on job creation, President Obama has concentrated on growing government and increasing its control over our lives.

His budget busting stimulus plan grew government, grew our debt, but failed to grow our economy.

President Obama then turned his attention to taking over 1/6 of our economy. He promised his healthcare plan would lower family premiums by $2,500 per year, but instead, they have increased by $2,300.

The President and members of his Administration are true believers in big government. They point to the 46 million Americans now on food stamps as a metric of success. It is not. It is a metric of failure that highlights how his policies have not put Americans back to work.

Because of his policies, dependence on government has increased, and individual opportunity has declined.

The social welfare economic model of Europe is collapsing. Countries like Greece have made promises to their citizens that they simply cannot afford. President Obama has put this country on the exact same path.

We can do better than this. America should do better.

It is time to return to the values and principles that made this country great. I grew up in an America that valued hard work and celebrated success. America became the economic engine of the world, not because of government, but because millions of Americans had the freedom to pursue their dreams.

We can reclaim this heritage once again and build a society where hard work is rewarded and every American has the opportunity to succeed.

Republicans are ready, willing, and able to lead this noble effort.

Thank you."

Romney: Obama’s reckless spending fans a 'prairie fire of debt'

Speaking in Des Moines, Iowa this afternoon, Romney took President Obama to task for his incessant spending and borrowing:

"Today America faces a financial crisis of debt and spending that threatens what it means to be an American. Here in the heartland you know in your hearts that it’s wrong.  We can’t spend another four years talking about solving a problem that we only make worse every day. When the men and women who settled the Iowa prairie saw a fire in the distance, they didn’t look around for someone else to save them or go back to sleep hoping the wind might blow another direction. They knew their fate was in their hands and so it is today.  A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation and every day we fail to act we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve."

Romney went on to hit Obama for the so-called stimulus, the ever unpopular ObamaCare and the more than five trillion dollars the Obama deficits have added to the national debt:

"President Obama started his days in office with the trillion-dollar stimulus package – the biggest, most careless one-time expenditure by the federal government in history.  And remember this: the stimulus wasn’t just wasted – it was borrowed and wasted.  We still owe the money, we’re still paying interest on it, and it’ll be that way long after this presidency ends in January.
 
Then there was Obamacare.  Even now nobody knows the exact cost of that new program.  And that uncertainty has done great harm to our economy.  Employers aren’t hiring, entrepreneurs are worried, all because of a massive, European-style entitlement that Americans didn’t want and can’t afford.
 
Through his own decisions, this President has added more than five trillion dollars to the national debt, which now stands at 15.7 trillion dollars." 

Then Romney promised to lead us out of this debt and spending crisis:

"As president, I will approach debt and spending differently.  My time spent building businesses and leading state government taught me that we need to hold every department and agency to a simple test: If something can be done better and more efficiently outside the federal government, then that’s where it belongs.  Wherever we have the option of returning functions back to the states, to local governments, or, better still, to the private sector, that’s what we will do.  We will make the federal government simpler, smaller, smarter – and, by the way, more in keeping with the vision of the Framers of our Constitution."

The excerpts are from Mitt Romney’s speech as prepared for delivery. The entire transcript is available here.

Last month the Romney campaign released a video highlighting President Obama's broken promises on spending, deficits and the national debt. You can watch the "Broken Promises: Spending" video below.

Today the national debt is 15,674,182,767,474.36 or $15.7 trillion, it was when President Obama took office it was $10,626,877,048,913.08 or $10.6 trillion.

In 2004, when the deficit was $413 billion and the national debt was $7,419,244,676,835.15 or $7.4 trillion, Obama said the "monstrous federal deficit" was an "enormous problem." On July 3, 2008, presidential candidate Obama said that adding $4 trillion in debt was "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic." Nevertheless, President Obama added more than $5 trillion to the national debt in three years.

President Obama has promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first time at least five times:

1. February 23, 2009: Obama Pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.
2. February 24, 2009: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.
3. May 26, 2009: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office
4. December 8, 2009: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.
5. February 14, 2011: Obama pledges to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office.

 Despite those promises Obama has racked up the largest deficits in U.S. history:

• FY2009: The federal budget deficit was $1.413 trillion, the highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2011: The federal budget deficit was $1.299 trillion, the second highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• FY2010: The federal budget deficit was $1.294 trillion, the third highest in U.S. history. ("Monthly Budget Review: November 2011," Congressional Budget Office, 11/7/11)
• The CBO projects the deficit at the end of Obama’s first term will be $1.253 trillion, Obama’s fourth straight trillion deficit. ("An Anlysis Of The President’s 2013 Budget," Congressional Budget Office, 3/16/12)

You shouldn't be shocked by Obama's failure to reduce the deficit in half by the end of his first term in office. He did warn us there would be "trillion-dollar deficits for years to come."

Happy tax day!

As you pay your taxes to the Obama regime consider some what you are getting for your money:

• Billions of wasted dollars in Solyndra-like "green energy" loans.
• $820,000 for a General Services Administration (GSA) "conference" in Las Vegas, complete with mind-readers and clowns.
• Week long trips to Hawaii for government bureaucrats to attend a single one hour ribbon cutting.

The folks at The American Future Fund produced a video that highlights these Obama administration scandals:

When President Obama is asked about such scandalous spending he responds:

"This is a pretty big government."

Obama takes a much different approach to responsibility than Harry "the buck stops here" Truman.

Remember that regardless of all the taxes we turn over to Obama and company today, it doesn't come close to paying for his unprecedented spending. Forty cents of every dollar the Obama government spends is borrowed and will burden our children and grand children.

November is coming.