Truth In Lending?

The White House and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) prepare to release new deficit estimates this month, and even USA today reports that several economists say the news is likely to be as bad as or worse than forecasts. The New York Times (make that the New Pork Times) blamed the record smashing deficit on the Bush Administration.

It is beyond me how this is something "inherited by this Administration" when Democrats basically ramrodded the original budget through Congress with virtually no Republican approval -- save Bush's signature, of course -- and the highest members of the Obama White House -- including the president himself -- supported it when they were either in the Senate or the House? This means the 2009 budget was almost exclusively approved by Democrats, with "Yeas" coming from current President then Sen. Obama, his current Vice President then Sen. Joe Biden, his current Chief of Staff then Rep. Rahm Emanuel, and his current Secretary of State then Sen. Hillary Clinton.
These same individuals voted yeas for the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program designed to "rescue" some of the nation's largest financial institutions from destroying the economy. And to top of the out of control spending the $787 billion stimulus bill that passed in February with just three Republican votes followed closely by the $410 billion of additional spending Congress sent to his desk three weeks later.
Even with all this stimulation -"This is going to be a very depressing outlook," predicts former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a top Rpublican Candidate adviser to in last year's presidential election is quoted as saying. "They have just a nightmare in terms of these health care bills, which do nothing but make things worse."
A fiscal year 2009 deficit of $1.8 trillion was anticipated by the White House with Congress forecasting $1.7 trillion. Reaching that level would produce a deficit four times last year's $459 billion deficit, just as Congress is considering health care overhaul plans that could cost an additional $1billion a year. Increasing the current deficit by 10% a year will increase dependence on loans from foreign countries (namely China)trillion over 10 years.
Lawmakers are struggling to pay for a plan with a mix of tax increases on upper-income people (translate that to small business owners) and Medicare spending reductions aimed at doctors, hospitals, drugmakers and insurers. Town-hall forums all across the U.S. this month have been disrupted by protests for and against proposals.
I say show me the money - we are borrowing from the futures of our children and trading our way of life for what? We may have stimulated our economy right out of existence.