“A strong case can be made that the people most responsible for the gigantic deficits we face today are neither George W. Bush nor Barack Obama. The real culprits are Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Congress controls the purse strings. When Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid rose to their present jobs in January 2007, the deficit was $161 billion. It had been on a downward trajectory from $413 billion in 2004. Three years later, the Pelosi-Reid Congress had added $1.2 trillion to the deficit. Of course, Mr. Bush sponsored or signed into law many of these deficit-raising bills, such as the bank bailouts and effective tax rebates of 2008. But the Democratic Congress passed them. Long forgotten is the promise Mrs. Pelosi made on the day she became speaker: ‘Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt.’ I think future generations would like a do-over. … For the sake of comparison, let’s look at the Pelosi-Reid fiscal record over 10 years. In January 2007, the CBO projected a $379 billion surplus over the next decade. Now, after four years under Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid, and two years of Mr. Obama in the White House, the 2007-2016 projection is a deficit of $7.16 trillion. This deterioration of the nation’s fiscal situation is arguably the worst in United States history, and it was brought to us courtesy of a congressional leadership that pledged ‘pay as you go’ budgeting to bring the budget into balance. It is no wonder that Americans are not eager to retain the services of these two spendthrifts as leaders of Congress.” –Wall Street Journal economics writer Steve Moore
Tags: Economy, election 2010, News, Politics
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 
October 5, 2010 at 07:13
[When Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid rose to their present jobs in January 2007, the deficit was $161 billion. ]
That’s a lie. It was $536.5 billion for fiscal year 2005 (ending on Sept. 30, 2006) and $459.5 billion for fiscal year 2006 (ending on Sept 30, 2007).
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October 5, 2010 at 08:04
Citation is everything Ben. It seems that the numbers get fudged every time we turn around, and that’s from both sides of the issue BTW.
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October 5, 2010 at 12:09
That’s from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
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October 5, 2010 at 12:19
From Wiki..? Please Ben…
My personal position is that both Party’s have blown it when it comes to spending, and finger pointing by one side or the other might best be dealt with by simply holding up a mirror.
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October 5, 2010 at 16:53
Oh, I guess Wikipedia has a left-wing bias. You complain that people are playing the “blame game” (like you’re told to do), but you just blamed it all on Pelosi and Reed. Who’s playing the blame game?
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October 5, 2010 at 22:53
Ben, I don’t count Wiki as reliable because anyone can edit the darn thing. The writer, as cited in the “source” blames them, and probably rightfully so. My point is the hypocrisy that both right and left are dealing in.
You have been around long enough to know that I regularly bashed Bush & Company for their fiscal irresponsibility. I happen to be a non discriminatory basher when it comes to spending like drunken Senators…
I don’t like big government types irrespective of whether they are from the right or the left.
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October 6, 2010 at 10:59
Excellent point, here, in that Congress is responsible for creating the bulk of the legislation that governs us – and they have been overwhelmingly eager to hike the national debt in response to “alleviate” the mess that they have created. A President possessing leadership ability can influence the particulars of any bill, can veto it, or can sign off on it, but the responsibility for crafting it lies with Congress. Over the last decade, these privileged princes and princesses have spent with wanton abandon, thus placing our economy and our very existence as a nation in perilous turmoil. More than enough blame to pass around, as Patrick has clearly explained.
Our first duty as voters (if we are in favor of fiscal responsibility), come November, is to carefully review the voting record of our elected representatives and dethrone every one of them who has contributed to the financial mess that our nation is in.
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October 6, 2010 at 17:59
“dethrone every one of them?”
How about a good old fashioned Tar & Feathering?
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October 6, 2010 at 18:01
And thanks BTW for the support Maine.
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