My take on: Unemployment and $787B Economic "Stimulus" Bill, Part #2

Continuing the discussion about President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, it should be noted that we didn't and don’t even have the money to pass an almost 1 trillion dollar bill, and that the estimated long-term cost of the stimulus bill rounds out at $3.3 trillion (1).

But don't let those numbers scare you. Here are some more figures to digest...

Our federal budget deficit has already skyrocketed to over $1 trillion for the first time ever, and is expected to rise over $8 trillion by 2017 (2 and 3). We now have $99 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities such as medicare, social security, and other entitlement programs (4). And, our national debt is now over $10 trillion, and is expected to top $12 trillion by 2013, which end up being about 70% of the ENTIRE United States' GDP (5). Let me rephrase that... In the first 5 months of President Obama's term, his out-of-control spending has caused our country to accumulate more debt than every previous president's debt COMBINED.

Don't get me wrong, President Bush spent quite a bit too. In fact, his budget deficits in the first 3 years were a staggering $948 billion, but guess what? The 1 trillion dollar cost of the interest to be paid on the stimulus alone has already surpassed that number (6). Under Obama’s budget, the national debt will increase by more in two years than it did under Bush in eight years.

I know the numbers can seem a little incomprehensible, but maybe this will help. If you were to receive $25 million a day, from the day you were born until you lived to be 100, you'd still come $90 BILLION short of $1 trillion. Let's try breaking it down another way. The average American family had about $90,000 in debt of their own in 2008 (7). While calling himself a conservative Republican, President Bush tacked 25,000 dollars of debt onto that 90,000 with his spending (8). With the spending that President Obama has already piled on ($48,000 per household), the debt of the average family will jump to a total of 168,000 dollars! I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that the "average" American family doesn't have that kind of money floating around.

Here's the real issue. Whether you are a conservative or a liberal, these numbers are hard to swallow. This isn't about Republicans and Democrats either, because, as I have pointed out, President Bush spent quite a bit for a "conservative." This is about a new President who promised to end the games of politics and change Washington. Against the will of the people, our government is spending money so fast that there is no way all the debt incurred can possibly be paid off. Our children who aren't even born yet are already bearing the weight of the government's massive debt. Our country, along with the principles and values of our constitution are being destroyed from within faster than an enemy could plot to destroy them. The hole of debt that has been dug by our government in the last 30 years is already inconceivably deep, and if it gets any deeper, the United States of America will cease to be the great country it should be. No more time can pass before "we the people" stand up and speak out for what we believe. For if we wait any longer, it will surely be too late.

Sources:
1. http://blog.heritage.org/2009/02/12/true-cost-of-stimulus-327-trillion
2. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/13/federal-budget-deficit-tops-trillion-time
3. http://blog.heritage.org/2009/02/11/president-obama-set-to-exceed-president-bush%E2%80%99s-deficits
4. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5379285/China-warns-Federal-Reserve-over-printing-money.html
5. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf
6. http://blog.heritage.org/2009/02/11/president-obama-set-to-exceed-president-bush%E2%80%99s-deficits
7. http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1295423
8. http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed032409e.cfm

ARC