THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # 16, January 23, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE BILL COMES DUE FOR SOCIALISM IN AMERICA
By Alan Caruba
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, SOCIALISM, & THE GROWING U.S. NATIONAL DEBT: OBAMA'S CALL FOR "HOPE & CHANGE"
IN AMERICA HAS TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE IN WHICH THE U.S. SHIP OF STATE IS BEING DELIBERATELY STEERED
TOWARD A WHIRLPOOL OF DEBT THAT WILL DESTROY THE NATION & ITS ECONOMY. WHAT MUST BE DONE TO GET US
OUT OF THE MESS CREATED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA & THE LEFTWING LIBERAL DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS?
FULL STORY:
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." -- Margaret Thatcher, former British
Prime Minister
It began as a beautiful cruise to a land of “hope and change,” but it has become a nightmare in which the ship of state is
being deliberately steered toward a whirlpool of debt from which, if Barack Hussein Obama is successful, the American
nation cannot escape.
One of the primary reasons the U.S. economy has grown over the years has been the confidence in its innovation and
productivity. It has generated investment from around the world from those who wanted to profit from our success story.
There was a time when U.S. securities were the safest in the world, but that is no longer the case.
On December 24, 2009, the U.S. Senate voted to raise the ceiling of the government debt to $12.4 trillion, described by an
Associated Press reporter as “a massive increase over the current limit and a political problem that President Barack
Obama has promised to address next year.”
On January 20, 2010, barely a month later, Senate Democrats “proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an
additional $1.9 trillion to pay bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.”
This is the reason, by virtue of the Massachusetts special election; the United States has dodged the bullet of a “reformed”
healthcare system which would have slashed a half trillion dollars from Medicare coffers, while adding millions more people
to its rolls.
It would have turned the health insurance industry into a public utility. They would have ceased to be private enterprises of
competing companies. It would have driven physicians out of practice. It would have bankrupted the nation and reduced a
widely acknowledged excellent health system to that of a Third World nation.
The proposed “Cap-and-Trade” bill, a huge tax on all energy use — the lifeblood of any economy, must be defeated. This
will come most likely from a lack of votes, as Senate Democrats are finally scared enough of the electorate to act with some
degree of rationality.
In a recent commentary, Jerome R. Corsi, the author of America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving the
Global Depression, and Preserving USA Sovereignty, wrote:
“With the recession and the huge stimulus package
added to the beginning of the baby boomers retiring,
United States debt is already at 50 percent of gross
domestic product (GDP) by 2019, according to the
Congressional Budget Office estimates of the Obama
administration plans as they currently stand.”
In other words, the U.S. government is committed through various “entitlement” programs like Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid, along with other expenditures, to spend more than it takes in via taxes. The other major expense is for
defense. These three factors represent half of the annual U.S. budget.
The situation is so grave that, on January 18, 2010, the Washington Times editorialized that “Obama is killing the
economy.”
The bill has finally come due for decades of socialism that began in the 1930s.
“The 2009 budget deficit tripled over 2008. The deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) went from 3.1
percent in 2008 to 9.9 percent in 2009. The deficit for the first month of fiscal year 2010 was $176 billion, which was greater
than the $161 billion deficit for the entire 2007 fiscal year.”
At present rates, the public debt of the United States will reach 85 percent of GDP by 2018, just eight years from now, and
100 percent by 2022. It would be 200 percent by 2038, if some brakes on spending are not applied before the ship of state
gets sucked down beneath an ocean of debt.
What does President Obama propose? He wants to apply an unconstitutional special tax on banks! The tax is not to be
levied on all banks. It is to apply just those banks on “Wall Street,” which Obama blames for the current recession.
His most recent proposal to regulate the banking system drove down the Dow Jones Average, signaling further fears of
his intention to micro-manage the economy. It is a recipe for disaster, and shares of the big Wall Street banks, in
particular, fell. He is deliberately attacking the great engine of the nation’s economy.
Wall Street is not the problem. The government is the problem.
Obama made no mention of the real culprits for the housing market meltdown, the reckless spending of Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac, and the Community Reinvestment Act that underwrote a program that put $12 trillion of mortgage loans, half
of all such loans, in the hands of the federal government!
As John Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out:
“President Obama’s proposal (would) bring back
1930s-like separation of commercial and investment
banks, dubbed Glass-Steagall II or Glass-Steagall 2.0,
(and) would do little to prevent the problem of
financial institutions being too big to fail. What it
would do is hurt economic recovery, reduce types of
financing available to businesses big and small, and
give European and Asian financial-service firms a
huge competitive advantage over their U.S.
counterparts.”
The billions still unspent in the socalled “Stimulus” bill should be returned to the Treasury. Plans to expand Medicare and
Medicaid need to be scrapped. Taxes on greenhouse gas emissions, mostly carbon dioxide, must be avoided if, for no other
reason than CO2 has nothing to do with a non-existent global warming.
The capacity of the United States to recover calls for an end to, or at least a cap on, the mindless spending of taxpayer
millions on the pet projects and crony deals of U.S. Representatives and Senators.
It calls for an end to the restrictions on the exploration for and extraction of the nation’s vast coal, oil, and natural gas
reserves, including reserves in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, as well as those in the offshore continental shelf.
It calls for an end to huge multi-million dollar subsidies for “renewable energy” schemes such as solar and wind power.
It calls for an end to the ethanol mandates that dilute the mileage of every gallon of gasoline and actually increase CO2
emissions!
It calls for an end to congressional mandates on the auto industry that have, in part, driven two of its largest manufacturers,
General Motors and Chrysler, into bankruptcy. The U.S. government must divest its ownership in both companies.
It calls for reining in the rogue government agency, the Environment Protection Agency that is attempting to unilaterally
impose control of CO2 emissions and has long engaged in practices that impede economic growth for business, industry,
and the nation’s agricultural sector.
There are many reasonable and rational steps that can and should be taken, but it seems clear that President Obama, with
the support of a Democratic Party controlled Congress, has no intention of taking any of these steps and, indeed, is intent
on bankrupting the U.S. government and its people.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Fiscal Policy: Taxation & Government Spending
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
Alan Caruba writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com. An author, commentator and business and science writer,
he is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about "scare campaigns" designed to influence
public opinion and policy.
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume XII, 2010
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity