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Budget
Posted Thursday, July 16, 2009, at 3:12 PM<< Previous | Read comments | Respond | Email link | Next >>
President Obama has proposed a budget for 2010 of $3,550,000,000,000.00. (that's trillions in case you missed a zero or two). To offer a perspective on how much this is, consider what one might do with this amount of money.
One could buy the entire output of Italy (2008), all the oil in Saudi Arabia, an electric car for every 16 & 17 year old in the United States, refund all of Madoff's swindles, all the tea in China and give every man, woman and child in America over $200 each. If this doesn't blow you away, consider this budget is only just to keep our heads above water for ONE YEAR! Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
Near lifelong resident of Bedford County. Will comment on the issues of the day in, hopefully a cogent and certainly an honest manner. Will propose discussions not usually fully addressed in the mainstream media.
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Most liberals are well-meaning, but naive idealists. They believe that everyone is good and all everyone needs is to be put in the right environment and all will flourish.
Carter, Clinton, and Obama's foreign policy of "if we be nice to them, they'll be nice to us" demonstrates this naivete.
The only explanation a liberal will accept,of why a government program didn't work is not enough funding.
Historical lessons and common sense are outdated ideas eschewed by most liberal politicians.
Sadly, they expect us to pay the price for their foolishness.
I don't think Obama's increased military strikes on Afghanistan is any indication of "if we be nice to them, they'll be nice to us" ... perhaps liberals just understand that being nice to those who never attacked us and and punishing those who did, rather than mistaking the wrong people for the enemy, is the more practical approach to foreign policy than blowing up an entire nation for every wrong reason.
What do you think of his bow and scrape to the Saudi king, his handling of North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia?
Wasn't part of his campaign promises that he would "bring the troops home"? Now his fanboys celebrate him keeping troops over there? Talk about an easy to please crowd.
The problem with any diehard ideological group is that if all you have in your toolbox is a hammer,everything looks like a nail.
In some alternate reality,carrying a Bible in one hand,a gun in the other,eating green vegetables,flossing and circuit training might solve all the world's ills.
There might be worse strategies but anything we do has to start with an objective,common sense evaluation of the tasks at hand.
We might have more faith in our leader's choices if we knew more about how their policies were made and if we became more involved in the process.
The people elected and appointed are not autarchs who can unilaterally determine what goes on in our lives with our resources.
Nor are they puppets or vending machines to perform at our convenience.
Our system of government assumes that an interested,informed populace chooses its best people to guide the nation according to input from the most capable and knowledgable advisors.
They are not supposed to be swayed from their best judgement by public demands nor are they supposed to carry out their own agenda over our needs and preferences.
That is a very fine line to walk for anyone (especially if the person hasn't exhibited a talent for walking on water).
Show us where the money is going.
See if we can't pare the budget in ways that are not false economies.
Show us investment in our future so we don't assume good money is being thrown after bad.
What are we buying that would be better than putting the funds into,for instance,well managed health care and education?
Are we concentrating as much on supporting ourselves and our friends as we are destroying our enemies?
(For example,would a dime spent on pre-natal assistance,child care,education,counselling and other assistance to families accomplish more than a dollar spent on welfare,institutional care and the criminal justice system?)
Funds spent on travel,big business,the arts,the military,etc. aren't *necessarily* wasteful.
Money given to local projects need not be ill-advised boondoggles.
If we demand that our public servants be good leaders and stewards,we have to do the same by participating in our government and making good use of what they provide.
It's been suggested that children are less picky about their food if they help in the kitchen and get a taste of what goes into what they are expected to eat.
If the citizenry knows and handles the ingredients of public policy,maybe it won't find the results as hard to swallow.
What do you think of his bow and scrape to the Saudi king, his handling of North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia?
Wasn't part of his campaign promises that he would "bring the troops home"? Now his fanboys celebrate him keeping troops over there? Talk about an easy to please crowd.
-- Posted by quietmike on Thu, Jul 16, 2009, at 9:18 PM
That's because he consistently said he would bring the troops home from IRAQ, and focus on the REAL threat in Afghanistan. Bowing to the Saudi King? I am not certain every leader does that, but everyone who purchases gasoline does. One person doesn't "handle" North Korea, or any country, that is why we have CIA and counter-terrorism task forces that do the ground work. Russia, is always a hot-button issue, and as long as we keep tabs on them, which I am sure Obama has directed folks to do, we shouldn't worry. It's about time we opened up economical ties with Cuba, after all, since this is a capitalist economy I see no reason we shouldn't be able to import Cuban cigars and pure cane sugar. We accept billions of dollars of goods from REAL communist countries, i.e. China, without the first blink. So, let's open relations with Cuba once more. Neither you nor I sit in on any meetings, so neither you nor I should attempt to grasp the realities surrounding each and every meeting dealing with any of the above mentioned countries. Wow, who would have ever thought that the power of communication would take a backseat to military force every time there is a disagreement.
The power of communication??? Oh you must mean his apology tour.
Hugo Chavez has already called obama ignorant, and other country's leaders have called member's of obama's envoy idiots.
Really, when was the last time a democrat president was taken seriously by foreign leaders?
To get back on topic, here is a good video that shows how obama has broken every precedent for deficit spending.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwD...