Our leaders in Washington are engaged in a (great?) debate about raising the debt ceiling in the country.

Our president would have us believe that he is all that stands between the evil Republicans who want cuts in spending (while flying their corporate jets and having their lackies push grandmas off the cliff) and the suffering folks of this country.

In 2006, then Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said, “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”

Shortly after Obama’s speech the Senate voted to raise the debt ceiling to just under $9 trillion. Today it is at $14.3 trillion.

By the way, is anyone out there any better off since the $800 billion stimulus of March 2009? Just curious.

 

Terence McManus

New Sharon