prolly get pulled...
Posted on 05/23/2009 7:17:02 AM PDT by autumnraine
Edited on 05/23/2009 2:21:14 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
'WE'RE OUT OF MONEY'
Sat May 23 2009 10:32:18 ET
In a sobering holiday interview with C-SPAN, President Obama boldly told Americans: "We are out of money."
C-SPAN host Steve Scully broke from a meek Washington press corps with probing questions for the new president.
SCULLY: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?
OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we've made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we've seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.
So we've got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it's putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.
So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don't reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can't get control of the deficit.
So, one option is just to do nothing. We say, well, it's too expensive for us to make some short-term investments in health care. We can't afford it. We've got this big deficit. Let's just keep the health care system that we've got now.
Along that trajectory, we will see health care cost as an overall share of our federal spending grow and grow and grow and grow until essentially it consumes everything...
SCULLY: When you see GM though as “Government Motors,” you're reaction?
OBAMA: Well, you know – look we are trying to help an auto industry that is going through a combination of bad decision making over many years and an unprecedented crisis or at least a crisis we haven't seen since the 1930's. And you know the economy is going to bounce back and we want to get out of the business of helping auto companies as quickly as we can. I have got more enough to do without that. In the same way that I want to get out of the business of helping banks, but we have to make some strategic decisions about strategic industries...
SCULLY: States like California in desperate financial situation, will you be forced to bail out the states?
OBAMA: No. I think that what you're seeing in states is that anytime you got a severe recession like this, as I said before, their demands on services are higher. So, they are sending more money out. At the same time, they're bringing less tax revenue in. And that's a painful adjustment, what we're going end up seeing is lot of states making very difficult choices there...
SCULLY: William Howard Taft served on the court after his presidency, would you have any interest in being on the Supreme Court?
OBAMA: You know, I am not sure that I could get through Senate confirmation...
Developing...
It's probably already too late. Look at all he's done in 4 months. He still has 3 years 8 months to "accomplish" a whole lot more destruction.
Ah, a pony in the pile of horse manure.
Then shouldn’t they stop spending?
It's happened before. Oh they said they just banned possesion, and "bought" the gold, but they paid a lot less than it would have been worse if the price had not been "fixed" by the government.
I hope they try to "nationalize" firearms and ammunition. That should get things going right proper. (That's the way it was in 1775, the colonists bitched about "Taxation without representation, and denial of the "rights of Englishmen", but things didn't really cook off until they started going for powder, ball, shot, cannon and private arms.
The prices, not the value.
Right now, we need to concentrate on making sure that he only has a Democratic majority in Congress to do it with for the next 20 months. IMHO.
With the size of the imbalance, particularly in the Senate, it would be more than just highly unusual and unlikely for the Republicans to regain control in 2010. Yes they will likely gain seats, but probably not enough. About the best that can be hoped for is that the Senate would no longer have a filibuster proof supermajority of 'Rats. (Of course with all the RINOs, they haven't really needed it yet, and in fact they have not got it, yet)
Wait a minute...I’m in California and I challenge you to a championship match for most Socialist State in the Union! I think your state is a 98 pound weakling compared to us!
Reagan was able to limit the growth. But he had to fight uphill the whole time. As I recall the media and the Rats were attacking him for “budget cuts” the whole time.
All he did was slow the increase and try to stem the ability to massively grow it.
That’s over now. Obama will use spending as a means to circle the wagon later and tax this nation to its knees.
prolly get pulled...
Well of course. I am just not sure why you felt you had to state what is quite obvious. Any conservative who sat out the election and allowed Obama to win is a coward and has no business voting.
Yes. The “checks and balance” part is called Congress.
Obama thinks he has Congressional Democrat Leaders by the short hairs and that they’ll do anything he tells them to do.
I’m hoping they’ll tell him, because of what they’re hearing from constituents, to go pee up a rope.
I’m not holding out hope for change; sarcasm here intended.
Yep we are broke but I need a couple trillion more to destroy Healthcare and the energy sectors.
While agreeing with most everything that’s been written in this thread, I find myself trying to spot the angel in the whirlwind.
Maybe 0bama is giving us the acute condition, and McCain would have brought us the chronic condition. And maybe 0bama will screw us so fast and so bad, we’ll fight back. Maybe a tax revolt that wouldn’t otherwise have occurred. Maybe some other form of healing and recovery.
I’m really not optimistic, but at least 0bama doesn’t slow-boil the frog. At this rate it might actually leap out of the pot, alive.
PS: forgive the mixed metaphors...been a long day.
Sorry, did he just say we can't afford nationalized health care?
Oh, it's Obama... He meant "Bush's Fault"
He blamed the deficit he caused on health care????
Obama is off the charts. By the time he is done, he will have amassed more debt than we have in the entire history of the Republic prior to his taking office. And he will have brought the economy to its knees. Higher taxes and inflation are the next storms to hit us after this massive borrowing. Obama is the wrong man at the wrong time in the wrong place in our history. We may never recover
Lets see.....you pass a $4 Trillion Porkulus bill followed by another $4 Trillion budget.
And now you say you are out of money?????
What an Arshole.
He’s plainly talking about cutting health care, he claims he will control costs but obviously he plans to ration. There is no other way to pay less and provide healthcare to the increasing numbers of seniors.
In fact Obama is USING the deficit he created to force us to have less health care!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.