Chimp-in-Chief

Unbelievable! Since when is running up massive debt in hopes that the economy would take off ever worked? Didn't work for FDR either until we went to war. Sure won't work now.

But I guess the point is moot since this wild spending spree craze has just begun. This is complete insanity!

Cut Federal programs and cut out personal Federal income taxes. Stop spending the people's money against their will and let the people decide on what to contribute to.

10 Trillion dollars spent in eight years is dispicable. What's just as, is the amount spent by the current President in just one month of being in office.

Mirage wrote:

Unbelievable! Since when is running up massive debt in hopes that the economy would take off ever worked? Didn't work for FDR either until we went to war. Sure won't work now.

Mirage,That's just the latest outright lie currently being promoted on Fixed News and other wingnut outlets. The truth is that it's absolutely false.....Pay special attention to what happens when the spending is cut during the run up....

Ohhmama wrote:

10 Trillion dollars spent in eight years is dispicable. What's just as, is the amount spent by the current President in just one month of being in office.

Just to clarify, because I know that "deficit" and "debt" can be confusing, so here's a link from wikipedia that will hopefully help a bit...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit

Quote :

A budget deficit occurs when an entity spends more money than it takes in. The opposite of a budget deficit is a budget surplus. Debt is essentially an accumulated flow of deficits. In other words, a deficit is a flow and debt is a stock.

An accumulated deficit over several years (or centuries) is referred to as the government debt.

The 10 trillion dollar figure is not how much was spent during the Bush years. The total government spending is quite a bit more than that. The final numbers from the Bush years aren't in yet, but it looks like it will wind up being between 15-20 trillionor so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U_S_presidential_terms#FY2009

Now, with no disrespect intended, let's take another look at the quote from the article above...

Quote :

President Bush has nearly doubled the national debt during his eight years in the White House. As he prepares to return to Texas next month, Mr. Bush is on track to add $5 trillion to the $5.73 trillion national debt he inherited when he took office. According to Treasury Department data, the number was $10.66 trillion at the end of November, and it has been rising at an astronomical rate.

What this means is that the government added at least 5 trillion to the national debt, not the deficit (which is annual), bringing the total to roughly 11 trillion, which is pretty scary.

But what's even scarier is that the Bush administration has handed the Obama administration roughly a 1 trillion dollar deficit to deal with, and that needs to be rectified. Unfortunately, we can't cut back on spending now, because that would send the country, and the world, into a total economic meltdown.

You may disagree with the President on the details of the Reinvestment and Recovery Act, but there is no question that a massive stimulus is needed just to keep our economy afloat. President Obama has said repeatedly that "it's going to get worse before it gets better," and unfortunately, that's the truth. As painful as it may be, we need to think of a recovery in terms of years, not months.

Simply put, the economy is totally FUBAR. IMHO, the President deserves a lot of credit for acting quickly to address this problem, and I'm encouraged by his willingness to "throw open the books" on how this money is spent so that all of us can track it. You have to admit, that is unprecedented.

Obama warns mayors not to waste stimulus money

Quote :

His budget chief this week released a 25,000-word document that details exactly how Cabinet and executive agencies, states and local organizations must report spending. It is a system meant to streamline reports so they can be displayed on the administration's new Web site, http://Recovery.gov

Using his presidential pulpit, Obama demanded accountability, from his friends in local government as well as his own agencies. He said the new legislation gives him tools to "watch the taxpayers' money with more rigor and transparency than ever," and that he will use them.

"If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it, and put a stop to it," he said. "I want everyone here to be on notice that if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it, and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it."

Scorpion, is the cost of the Iraq War debacle included in those figures or is that on another set of books?

edge540 wrote:

Scorpion, is the cost of the Iraq War debacle included in those figures or is that on another set of books?

Hell if I know, edge. All I know is that another 162 Billion was appropriated last June to extend the war into 2009.

Here's a link...

2008 Iraq War supplemental funding bill

Scorpion wrote:

paul87920 wrote:

My comic would have been a picture of Barack Obama raping a time machine that had it's clock set to "the next 2 or 3 generations"

So what's your solution to this frickin' mess that President Obama inherited?

You know... it's not that he's spending the money that bothers me. I want it done carefully not hastily. I want to know what the plan to pay this money back is. I have absolutely no reason to trust Obama. That has to be earned, and he isn't going to earn my trust without reassurance that this money is going to be spent appropriately.

Scorpion wrote:

Our economy is a frickin' disaster, and you fault the current President for actually trying to do something about it? And you have the gall to blame President Obama for the plight of future generations?

For 787 billion. Yes. Yes I do.

Scorpion wrote:

Do you remember what Bush told us in 2004? He said he would cut the deficit in half before he left office...

And he failed...

Scorpion wrote:

It really pisses me off that I need to remind anyone how we got to this point. Almost half of this country told you fools that Bush was ruining our economy with his inept policies, but you all chose to believe tripe like "the fundamentals of the economy are strong," and "there is no recession."

And I was right there alongside you saying the same damn thing during the Bush years. I was not old enough to vote in '00 or '04 but your generation is where I place the blame. The generation that has elected such duds like Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II. We're in this mess because your generation elected idiots.

paul87920 wrote:

Scorpion wrote:

paul87920 wrote:

My comic would have been a picture of Barack Obama raping a time machine that had it's clock set to "the next 2 or 3 generations"

So what's your solution to this frickin' mess that President Obama inherited?

You know... it's not that he's spending the money that bothers me. I want it done carefully not hastily. I want to know what the plan to pay this money back is. I have absolutely no reason to trust Obama. That has to be earned, and he isn't going to earn my trust without reassurance that this money is going to be spent appropriately.

Yeah, well it was idiotic to fight a frickin' trillion dollar war without raising taxes to pay for it. Were you demanding a plan on how that money would be paid back?

As far as President Obama goes, you don't have to trust him. That's what the web site is for... everyone is going to know how the money is spent. And I can tell you right now that we're not going to recoup much of the money until tax revenues start rising.

paul87920 wrote:

Scorpion wrote:

It really pisses me off that I need to remind anyone how we got to this point. Almost half of this country told you fools that Bush was ruining our economy with his inept policies, but you all chose to believe tripe like "the fundamentals of the economy are strong," and "there is no recession."

And I was right there alongside you saying the same damn thing during the Bush years. I was not old enough to vote in '00 or '04 but your generation is where I place the blame. The generation that has elected such duds like Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II. We're in this mess because your generation elected idiots.

Yeah, well I certainly understand and share your anger, but I am not personally responsible for the candidates that the political parties picked for the Presidency, nor do I feel responsible for how those you refer to as "my generation" chose to vote.

After all, your generation played a significant role in getting our current President elected, yet you voted for McCain, didn't you?

Scorpion wrote:

Yeah, well it was idiotic to fight a frickin' trillion dollar war without raising taxes to pay for it. Were you demanding a plan on how that money would be paid back?

Damn straight I was. The war was totally unjustified. I also want to see justice brought to the corporations that profited off of the blood of innocent American soldiers.

Scorpion wrote:

After all, your generation played a significant role in getting our current President elected,

Yes we did.

Scorpion wrote:

yet you voted for McCain, didn't you?

No. I begrudgingly voted for Obama. Honestly I believed that Sarah Palin was about as qualified to be our vice president as Al Franken is to be a Minnesota senator. And if McCain dies before 2012 I'll definitely know that I made the right decision. (I already slammed the beloved President Obama, I figured I'd slam the beloved Sarah Palin too)

You're going to have to try harder to peg me as the loony Republican you think I am because I've gone through this before except it was arclight trying to peg me as a loony Democrat.

Paul, If you are against Edge and Artie, you are a republican.

It doesn't matter whether or not you voted for McCain or not. On the NWI forums, I was told by both of them that I voted for McCain, because I do not believe that Obama is going to solve this crisis(which according to many polls, the majority is against the stimulus, and mortgage mess fixes he wants)

What am I going to do with my extra $100 I will have under this stimulus package? Man there is alot to do, I couyld pay Nipsco for one month of service, maybe buy a couple loaves of bread(amazing how the price of corn has fallen, yet Obama has not started an investigation into why the prices of food are still high), or maybe a couple gallons of Milk(hundreds of thousands of milk cows are going to be slaughtered for meat since the price of milk has fallen, yet Milk is still expensive to buy).

I am glad I did not vote for either of the two idiots running for the White House.


BTW, when is Chicago going to be reimbursed? What is taking the D's so long in paying back the city of Chicago for the Victory party? trying to find ways to weasel out of it, like the three D's who do not know that they need to pay taxes?

paul87920 wrote:

You're going to have to try harder to peg me as the loony Republican you think I am because I've gone through this before except it was arclight trying to peg me as a loony Democrat.

I honestly try to stay away from "pegging," Paul. The last time I "spoke" with you about the election was probably around 5-6 months ago at the Times, and I got the impression that you were leaning toward McCain. If my post gave you the impression that I viewed you as a "loony Republican," then I apologize.

Frankly, I'm just pissed off that our economy is in such sorry shape that it's become necessary to resort to depression era tactics to save it. I honestly don't think that President Obama has any choice but to deal with this crisis swiftly and boldly. As I've said before, at least we will be able to track how the money is spent. That level of transparency is unprecedented, and I believe that it will help to minimize abuses and waste by governmental agencies as well as state and local governments.

It didn't hit me as being funny. I didn't really see anything about what the point was. The chimp that got shot was one story.

What the hell did th stimulous bill have to do with a chimp being portrayed in what was suppose to be funny. Truthfully, the comic strip made no sense to me.

I suppose if you ask me specific questions, I may come up with excuses, but after looking at it, the comic made no sense to me, and I couldn't imagine who would chuckle at it. The message was clear to me...bringing up the stimulous package was a direct hit to Obama....whether or not he wrote it or not, it was associated with him. To put forth a chimp that was likie a family member to someone, shot twice and trying to link it to the president, in my words, are degrading. I couldn't find any link in that political cartoon that would pic my interest to make me laugh.

And, that was suppose to be the pupose of it...to make you laugh. So, tell me friends, is it really funny to have to shoot a chimp and what made you laugh to associate it with a stimulous bill? Nothing in there, and if I were the editor, I would have told the sketcher to take a hike or go home on leave and come up with something that really meant something to give us a laugh in these trying times.

The cartoon did not make sense....at all. There was no humor to make you laugh. I love animals, especially a chimp. I always dreamed of owning one...to see that cartoon...made me sick.

Disect it: Pretend it was your dog that never ATTACKED anyone after so many years, but may have all of a sudden turned on someone, your best friend. You try and get the dog off, beat him with a shovel, but nothing helps. You see your best friend's face being mauled, and torn. You aren not going to sacrifice the animal over the best friend...and you do the right thing...you have to kill the animal that suddenly displayed a personality that you can't control. The human life is more precious than an animals, so you ask for the authorities to kill it. Much as you love it, you do the proper thing.

What in the hell does this have to do with a stimulous package? Would the same sketcher have thrown this in the newspaper if it was a pitt-bull? NO.

And you know that. There is no defense to this. There are no excuses except the truth. It happened to be a chimp, and the artist took advantage of it putting one thing (excuse me, PITTING) one thing against the other that were not even related. So, I took it the way he meant it - with insult added to injury.

And, that's the truth.

Murdoch sorry for NY Post cartoon seen as racist

By KAREN MATTHEWS – 57 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Post Chairman Rupert Murdoch apologized Tuesday for a cartoon that critics said likened a violent chimpanzee shot dead by police to President Barack Obama.

In a statement published in the newspaper, Murdoch said he wanted to "personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted." He said the Post will work to be more sensitive.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlBBpB0_XF-eJt6GGtXCSl5bfV1AD96I6JH01