As Obama Lies, the Economy Dies

Barack Obama has done it again. No, he didn’t win another Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing except increasing troops in Afghanistan. What he did was lie to the citizenry – which, at this point, shouldn’t be a shock. Most people already believe that politicians habitually lie while using word and number games to conceal their real shortcomings and incompetence as legislators and executives. And for the most part, those people would be correct to suppose such deceit. As for Obama, his administration has already been caught in one lie after another.

However, it’s different this time because the deception is much more noticeable and, consequently, it’s exponentially more shameless.

On Monday, Obama revealed his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2011. Just last Wednesday, he pledged – in front of Congress, the Supreme Court, various federal agency leaders, and the United States public – to reduce federal government debt and deficits. Five days later, he unveiled a record-breaking spending plan. It’s record-breaking because it will saddle United States citizens with the single greatest amount of debt accumulated in just one fiscal year: $1.56 trillion.

People who understand how today’s government works, and what Obama’s agenda is, already knew that his pledge to reduce deficits was a sham. We cannot bring down government debt by piling on more government spending, which is exactly what will happen if his notions of health care, energy, and education “reforms” are enacted. But what makes Obama shameless for introducing this new budget is the fact that he blamed the previous administration for “profligacy” and continually rebukes it for greatly adding to our national debt, while also recently announcing a so-called “spending freeze” that was supposed to help curb federal deficits. (More on that later.)

A preliminary look at some of the numbers reveals just how brazen Obama has become.

The new budget proposes a three percent increase in federal spending in 2011. That, of course, is in addition to the 5.7 percent rise for the current budget year. This year’s deficit alone will be over ten percent of GDP. Next year’s deficit is estimated at $1.27 trillion. Added to the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion, the first three years of the Obama administration will rack up over $4 trillion dollars of debt – assuming everything goes according to his proposed agendas, which is already counting revenues and savings from legislation that has not yet been passed. The debt may actually turn out to be much higher.

(For anyone wondering, $4 trillion dollars looks like this: $4,000,000,000,000.00 – and it only represents the amount that we cannot pay with federal revenues, meaning that it will have to be either borrowed or simply printed. Meanwhile, actual spending will amount to well over $10 trillion in the three-year period.)

But please don’t worry. The administration’s proposed “spending freeze” will reduce deficits by over $25 billion each year. That means, next year’s budget will really only contain a built-in $1.25 trillion in debt – approximately 33% of the total spending. In other words, the proposed “spending freeze” will amount to a savings of 0.02% of the deficit alone (or 0.007% of the total budget for 2011). These are the results of not cutting the actual problem areas: massive social programs (you know, the ones exempt from the freeze).

The figures are mind-numbing. Anyone who even remotely understands economics will realize that this is not in the least bit sustainable. Yet, Obama’s plan for the federal government is forecasted – by the administration itself – to add over $8.5 trillion in debt over the next decade. The total debt proposed and accumulated by the Obama administration will increase our national debt by almost 100% over the next ten years. Nevertheless, we are subjected to daily reminders of the “profligate” spending habits during the Bush administration, while at the same time we are blatantly lied to about how the current administration is doing diligent work trying to figure out how to reduce government waste and trim deficits.

This kind of deception is far beyond insulting.

Let’s not forget that Barack Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004. He was a part of the federal government since January of 2005. Democrats took over control of federal spending after the elections of 2006. So, for the last three years, Obama and his Democrat counterparts have controlled our federal spending. They did nothing to slow or reverse the so-called “profligate” spending then – and they are doing even less now. In fact, they have significantly accelerated the pace, as hard as that is to believe.

We are no longer discussing fiscal irresponsibility. At this moment, it is about intentional economic destruction…financial sabotage. We are in a battle for our economic future with a left-wing radical in the White House and his supporting allies in Congress. The facts are right before our eyes. The words uttered and the actions taken by Obama and congressional leaders have been recorded. All indications show that we are headed toward suffocating debt caused by a drastic expansion of government.

This is neither rhetoric nor hyperbole. This is a fundamental transformation of our country.

The actions proposed by Obama will do nothing to create jobs and turn the economy around. He is prepared to raise taxes on anyone who makes over $250,000 per year – which includes business owners and investors. He is eager to tax banks, which lend money to individuals and businesses. His tax credit for businesses to hire new employees is a façade – nobody is going to hire a new employee when they’re having trouble selling their products or services in a recessed economy. Even his pledge to increase exports is sheer idiocy; it cannot be done when we have very little to export because most of our industry has been driven away due to over-taxation and regulation. Add to all of this the government expansion efforts – which include legislation to create a new bureaucracy that will impose additional taxes on businesses for natural emissions – and daily attacks on investors, profits, and the free market in general, and it’s not hard to imagine how economic recovery will probably be slower than predicted…if ever.

But again, the Obama administration defies reality by absurdly predicting that unemployment will actually decrease if they get their agenda passed, bringing the percentage down to an estimated 7.9 percent by the end of 2012. It just so happens that they also predicted unemployment would not rise above eight percent if last year’s “stimulus” bill was passed. Unemployment is currently at ten percent, so we can be sure that their latest analysis is credible.

When massive amounts of debt are piled on to an already debt-ridden nation, and when the federal executive and our legislators demonize and threaten to regulate every aspect of the so-called “free market,” it tends to stifle opportunities for nation-wide growth.

None of the aforementioned actions or consequences is merely a matter of happenstance. They are all calculated and they conform to an overall agenda that is designed to move this nation progressively to the left. Luckily, more citizens are rejecting this move on a daily basis despite the misdirection and deceit in which the Democrats are engaged. No matter how many times they claim that the American People want “change” and desperately need their version of “reform,” the polls show a trend of public sentiment steadily drifting away from their policies.

Nonetheless, instead of actually adopting policies that will help improve our economic woes and reduce the size and cost of government, Obama brought his former presidential election campaign guru, David Plouffe, to the White House. Perhaps he needs to ensure that the citizenry will find his agenda to be likeable and possibly successful if the right catch-phrases are used. Sooner or later, Obama must certainly realize that he has already won the presidential election – that now it’s time to actually do something.

On second thought, we may be better off if he didn’t.

In any case, if we do not rein in our federal government immediately and demand that they control their reckless and immoral spending habits and curb their attacks on anyone who makes a profit, then we will soon find out what it’s like to no longer be at the top of the world’s food chain – politically, economically, and morally speaking. Our federal government is leading us down a ruinous path while deceiving us every step along the way about their agenda, their results, and their inevitable failures. It’s nauseating to witness – and even more so to hear the outright hypocrisy and condescension from the politicians who are facilitating our demise.

We are teetering on the brink of an absolute financial collapse. Our next steps are critical. This is not the time to have one of the most inexperienced executives in our history dictating tried and failed policies, and an equally inept Congress too scared to stand up to him – if they even desire to do so.

Basically, our future is currently in the hands of either left-wing incompetents, or left-wing ideologues. Either way, the current and future state of our Union is not looking good.

Copyright © 2009 by RationalLiberty.com

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