An indefensible defense budget

February 25, 2008
An indefensible defense budget

As President Bush backs out the White House door, he is asking Congress to appropriate enough money for the coming fiscal year to enable the Pentagon and its government sidekicks to spend $1.2 million a minute on what is loosely called national defense.

Bush does not propose raising taxes, canceling any major weapons or getting out of the Iraq and Afghanistan quagmires to reduce the mountain of debt that this biggest binge of defense spending since World War II will pile up.

So the new president will be waterboarded by red ink next year unless Congress intercedes this year. Which it won't.

Bush's last spending plan only adds to a disastrous fiscal legacy

February 5, 2008
Bush's last spending plan only adds to a disastrous fiscal legacy

The president proposed to pay down the debt by $2 trillion during that time, which, he said, was as much as could be responsibly redeemed. He offered lavish tax cuts. And he vowed to "confront great challenges from which Government has too long flinched," putting Social Security and Medicare on solid financial footing.

But the fact remains that the purported surplus on which Mr. Bush based his tax-cutting agenda
was always something of a mirage, and the president has never been willing to adjust his agenda to
the grim new fiscal reality. Yesterday's promise of a small surplus by 2012 is once again premised
on omitting likely costs (zero is budgeted for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan) and by assuming
cuts to domestic spending that are unachievable politically and, in large part, unwise as a matter
of policy.

Our big-spender President

February 2, 2008
Our big-spender President

President Bush's budget for fiscal year 2009, which goes to Congress, carries an alarming
distinction: For the first time in the history of the republic, annual federal spending will cross
the $3 trillion mark.

And federal spending got there early. That figure had been anticipated but not until next year
when the new president would have been saddled with that honor.

Bush was also in office when the government crossed the $2 trillion mark in 2002 and the
budget, thanks to the president's free spending Republican allies in Congress, sank into deficit
after four years of surpluses.

To get a sense of the growth of government, consider: Spending didn't cross the $1 trillion
mark until 1987 and the $100 billion threshold until 1972.

Bush's Tax Cuts Are Dead

February 6, 2008
Bush's Tax Cuts Are Dead

John McCain's performance in the Super Tuesday primaries, coupled with the release of President Bush's fantastical budget on Monday, may have doomed the extension of the Bush tax cuts on income, capital gains and dividends, which are slated to expire after 2010.

The proposed budget for fiscal 2009, which starts in Oct. 2008, confirmed that the Bush fiscal performance will end, as it began, as a clown show. The administration expects that if its proposal is enacted into law, the next president will confront a $409 billion deficit next year. And that's the rosy scenario version, assuming that gross domestic product will grow 2.7% in 2008, compared with a consensus estimate of about 2.2%, and that discretionary non-defense spending will barely budge, to cite two examples. And it fails to include the full cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

DOD: war budget includes $70 billion for first three months of 2009

January 28, 2008
DOD: war budget includes $70 billion for first three months of 2009

WASHINGTON: The White House will ask Congress next week for another $70 billion (€47.4 billion) for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an amount that would help cover operational costs only until early in 2009 when the next administration takes over.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Monday that the money, included as part of the administration's 2009 budget request, would be considered an "emergency allowance" to pay for operations beginning Oct. 1, when the budget year begins, until possibly January.

U.S. budget deficit likely to hit $250 billion

January 23, 2008
U.S. budget deficit likely to hit $250 billion

WASHINGTON - The overall U.S. budget deficit could hit $350 billion this year, largely due to a weakening economy and the costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Congressional Budget Office and a top Senate official.

The non-partisan CBO says that once the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is added to its "baseline" deficit estimate of $219 billion, the deficit would be about $250 billion.

Bush Ignores Record Debt: Pushes $150 Billion Package

January 19, 2008
Bush Ignores Record Debt: Pushes $150 Billion Package

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Saturday "the kind of spending projects that would have little immediate impact on our economy" should not be part of any stimulus package, setting the stage for a possible clash with Democrats.

Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress are emphasizing their desire to work together as they rush negotiations on a short-term measure to prevent the economy from falling into recession. But while there is broad agreement that one-time tax rebates for consumers will be part of the package, there are different priorities at work for the rest of the measure.

What The Reagan/Bush Debt Means To You

December 8, 2007
What The Reagan/Bush Debt Means To You

As I write this, the U.S. national debt is about $9.17 TRILLION dollars. This debt is the amount we have borrowed to pay for our government since the Reagan tax cuts -- compounded by the Bush tax cuts. This is because of a choice we made -- yes, I say WE, because this government is US -- to borrow and pay later instead of pay now.

Don't for a minute think that you do not owe that money. It comes to about $30,000 for each American, including infants. If you are a family of four you now owe about $120,000 thanks to those tax cuts. YOU owe this money, even though the tax cuts have primarily gone to the very rich. You WILL be paying it, one way or another. Don't think that debt like that just goes away.

Congress raises limit again as U.S. debt nears $10 trillion

October 1, 2007
Congress raises limit again as U.S. debt nears $10 trillion

WASHINGTON — As the national debt heads for the $10 trillion mark, generous Americans are
sending checks to the federal government.

Donations to the Bureau of the Public Debt have topped $2.5 million so far this year. That's
the highest amount since at least 1996.

It's not making much of a dent, though.

For the fifth time since 2001, Congress is raising the debt limit, increasing it by $850
billion to $9.815 trillion. The Senate approved the plan on a 53-42 vote Thursday night. The House
of Representatives has already signed off on the plan, without a direct vote.

That's $9,815,000,000,000.00.

Charge It to My Kids

October 7, 2007
Charge It to My Kids

Every so often a quote comes out of the Bush administration that leaves you asking: Am I crazy or are they? I had one of those moments last week when Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, was asked about a proposal by some Congressional Democrats to levy a surtax to pay for the Iraq war, and she responded, "We've always known that Democrats seem to revert to type, and they are willing to raise taxes on just about anything."

Yes, those silly Democrats. They'll raise taxes for anything, even — get this — to pay for a war!

And if we did raise taxes to pay for our war to bring a measure of democracy to the Arab world, "does anyone seriously believe that the Democrats are going to end these new taxes that they're asking the American people to pay at a time when it's not necessary to pay them?" added Ms. Perino. "I just think it's completely fiscally irresponsible."

Friends, we are through the looking glass. It is now "fiscally irresponsible" to want to pay for a war with a tax. These democrats just don't understand: the tooth fairy pays for wars. Of course she does — the tooth fairy leaves the money at the end of every month under Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's pillow. And what a big pillow it is! My God, what will the Democrats come up with next? Taxes to rebuild bridges or schools or high-speed rail or our lagging broadband networks? No, no, the tooth fairy covers all that. She borrows the money from China and leaves it under Paulson's pillow.

Experts Agree: Bush Administration and Republican Congress Abandoned Fiscal Responsibility

September 24, 2007
Experts Agree: Bush Administration and Republican Congress Abandoned Fiscal Responsibility

"Having lost the majority in Congress and now in the twilight of his
presidency, George W. Bush has become a fiscal conservative. That's quite a
turnabout and requires considerable mental gymnastics to even contemplate,
given Bush's record: When he took office in 2001, the federal budget was in
surplus and the national debt was $5.7 trillion. The debt is now just under
$9 trillion and growing." USA Today editorial, 9/24/07

Bush Wants $50 Billion More for Iraq War

August 29, 2007
Bush Wants $50 Billion More for Iraq War

President Bush plans to ask Congress next month for up to $50 billion in additional funding for the war in Iraq, a White House official said yesterday, a move that appears to reflect increasing administration confidence that it can fend off congressional calls for a rapid drawdown of U.S. forces.

The request -- which would come on top of about $460 billion in the fiscal 2008 defense budget and $147 billion in a pending supplemental bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- is expected to be announced after congressional hearings scheduled for mid-September featuring the two top U.S. officials in Iraq. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker will assess the state of the war and the effect of the new strategy the U.S. military has pursued this year.

White House 'Duplicity' Over Pork Spending Draws GOP Ire

June 28, 2007
White House 'Duplicity' Over Pork Spending Draws GOP Ire

The president's earmarks, for projects including national park improvements, land purchases and new government facilities, have drawn unusual on-the-record criticism from Republican lawmakers, who typically eschew public displays of disaffection with the White House.

"It would appear the administration likes earmarks from their perspective," Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., told the Hill newspaper, which first reported the White House earmarks. Aderholt is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. He termed the White House stance as "inconsistent," though another Republican, Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, told the paper it was "duplicity."

President Bush And The National Debt

June 16, 2007
President Bush And The National Debt

On the day he took office, the National Debt stood at this unfathomable number:
$5,727.776.738,304.64

In fiscal shorthand, that's $5.7 trillion dollars. Trillion with a "T."

Six and a half years later, the Bureau of Public Debt tells us the National Debt clocks in at a staggering:
$8,835,268,597,181.95

That's $8.8 trillion – an increase of $3.1 trillion dollars since January 20, 2001. And that amounts to a jump of 54% during Mr. Bush's watch.

Balancing budget now won't solve U.S. debt woes

April 30, 2007
Balancing budget now won't solve U.S. debt woes

Let's assume that all of Bush's projections were to come true and a surplus was realized in 2012. According to his playbook, the story either ends there or reverts to the old ploy of more tax cuts. But the story neglects one detail: The national debt. During the Bush years, the debt grew from $5.7 trillion to $8.8 trillion, a 54 percent increase. By the time Bush leaves office, it'll have grown past $10 trillion. In other words, Bush will have saddled the country with almost more debt than all previous presidents combined, including Ronald Reagan, the last champion of Republican fiscal discipline.

Bush built his economic promises on two lies: That tax cuts would "generate strong revenues to the Treasury" -- demonstrably false, considering the near doubling of the national debt. And that balancing the budget was the end game. Why, then, did his administration report last week once again that Medicare and Social Security are heading for bankruptcy by 2019 and 2041 respectively, even as the administration keeps badgering Congress to make permanent the tax cuts that amplified bankruptcy? Because the true end game is to use bankruptcy as a means of ending government programs socially beneficial to tens of millions while rigging the tax code to benefit the nation's wealth and dividend class -- its richest 1 percent and overwhelming profiteers of the Bush years.

Bush Debt - $3.1 Trillion

March 8, 2007

Bush Debt

$3,105,407,209,442.59

March 08, 2007

The Bush Debt

February 15, 2007

The Bush Debt

$3,000,504,566,250.46
(over $3 trillion)