Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit….

That was what President Barack Hussein Obama told a crowd in Missouri in April of this year. So that it isn’t taken out of context, here is the entire quote:

“Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit…. That wasn’t me. Number two; there is almost uniform consensus among economists that in the middle of the biggest crisis, financial crisis, since the Great Depression, we had to take extraordinary steps. So you’ve got a lot of Republican economists who agree that we had to do a stimulus package and we had to do something about the banks. Those are one-time charges, and they’re big, and they’ll make our deficits go up over the next two years.”

As has been pointed out on this forum by not only those of us who write for Conservative Hideout, but also by many of you, our loyal readers we need to win the war of words in order to win our country back. So let’s look at Mr. Obama’s quote and do what Reagan would have done – let’s deconstruct it.

He says, “Number one, we inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit… That wasn’t me.” Did he? Did Obama’s administration actually inherit that much of a deficit? No. As we can see on this graph from The Heritage Foundation Obama actually did inherit a deficit. But it was just over $400 billion, NOT $1.3 trillion as he repeatedly claims.

Spending: Bush vs. Obama

So then why would he say that? Why would he claim that he got that much of a deficit when he really didn’t? Obama may be an ineffectual world leader, but he is no dummy. He and his inner circle know that the expansive spending they are doing cannot be hidden. An effective way to combat that expected rise in the deficit would be to inflate the numbers that he was handed by the previous administration, but more on that in a bit.
He next said, “Number two; there is almost uniform consensus among economists that in the middle of the biggest crisis, financial crisis, since the Great Depression, we had to take extraordinary steps.”

What consensus was there? Well Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics and international business at New York University said, “Even if we have positive growth next year, say one percent, it’s going to feel like a recession even if we’re out of it. If we don’t get the monetary part right, the fiscal policy right, if we don’t fix the banking system the right way, if we don’t deal with the debt burden of the household sector I see a one-third possibility of (an extended) L-shaped Japanese stagnation.”

And Kenneth Rogoff, professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University said that the nearly $800 billion stimulus bill is only a part of the answer. “It’s like giving a blood transfusion while the patient is still bleeding,” he said. “If we’re not going to fix the banking system at the same time, then it’s just a temporary boost in the economy. We have simply not taken the proper decisive action with the banks.”

So we have consensus alright, but both of those men who are considered among the top economists in the USA, if not the world agree that steps need to be taken. But they also espouse the very same ideas that were talked about at the Tea Party Protests, Town Hall Meetings and all over the conservative blogosphere. That is to address government fiscal policy by limiting government spending, fix the banking system, and not just throw money at the banks, and address the home mortgage crisis. These ideas are being all but ignored by the Obama administration. The stimulus bill itself was anything but a stimulus package. It was a 40 year wish list of liberal spending projects that they finally got to go wild with. And also, the vast majority of the money isn’t even slated to be spent until 2010 – 2011. Right before the mid term elections and again right before the next Presidential election. Isn’t that convenient? Even though Obama kept telling us that we need to pass the stimulus bill NOW, NOW, NOW in order to save jobs. Hmmm, unemployment is nearing 10% and if you take into account all the categories utilized by the Census bureau, then the figure climbs to a mind-numbing 17% un or underemployed in this country.

Next, President Obama said, “So you’ve got a lot of Republican economists who agree that we had to do a stimulus package and we had to do something about the banks.” Again, I covered this in the above paragraph, but to reiterate: Yes, economists on both sides of the political aisle did think action was necessary, but they disagreed on the methods. A true stimulus package that addressed taxes on small businesses (the heart and soul of the US economy), infrastructure projects and even corporate taxes would have been much more effective.

Lastly Obama said, “Those are one-time charges, and they’re big, and they’ll make our deficits go up over the next two years.” Of course this is more smoke screen designed to give him breathing room when the deficit climbs higher and higher.

The associated press said this week, “What is $1.42 trillion? It’s more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of the Republic, more than the entire economy of India, almost as much as Canada’s, and more than $4,700 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
It’s the federal budget deficit for 2009, more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year.

And, some economists warn, unless the government makes hard decisions to cut spending or raise taxes, it could be the seeds of another economic crisis.

Treasury figures released Friday showed that the government spent $46.6 billion more in September than it took in, a month that normally records a surplus. That boosted the shortfall for the full fiscal year ending Sept. 30 to $1.42 trillion. The previous year’s deficit was $459 billion.”

And as I said earlier, Obama is inflating the numbers of the deficit he was handed in order not to make such a contrast between his spending and the previous administration’s spending. A $459 billion deficit is atrocious, especially when a conservative is in office, but it is still less than one third of what Obama is claiming to have inherited. His attempt to play fast and loose with the numbers is apparent when you realize that we are at a record deficit; more than the total national debt for the first 200 years of our country and a sure fire way to destroy the perennially strong United States economy. Remember, in order to be a super power and hold military superiority over every other nation in the world, you must first have the best economy in the world. So it would seem that even Obama’s domestic policies are making the United States less safe. Having a $1.42 trillion deficit is taking us down a path to hyper inflation, and the diminished power of the dollar in world markets. Mr. Obama, can you not give up your far left ideology long enough to get this country back on the right path?