To provide some perspective, think about this: In 1980 our total national debt was just $907 billion dollars. Put another way, it took 204 years of spending for the United States of America to rack up nearly $1 trillion dollars in debt.
In one roll of the dice the republican-led deregulation binge, and tax cut jihad, did what it took over 200 years and 39 presidents to accomplish, almost $1 trillion in taxpayer funded debt. Worse, successive republican presidents have spent money like drunken sailors (with apologies to drunken sailors, who eventually sober up).
Today our national debt stands at $9.6 Trillion - more than ten times what it was when Ronald Reagan took office.
But what really irks me about all of this - apart from the additional $7,000 that each one of will have to pay up to make this thing work (how are Bush's tax cuts working out for you now?) - is that we still have the press referring to those who are being bailed out as "investors." Let's cut the crap. Everyone who benefits from this is no longer an "investor" ... they are wards of the state.
Somehow, incompetence and ineptitude are not enough to describe what President Bush and the republicans have done to this country. And it gets worse. Only in America, during an election year, could John "Bush's Third Term" McCain be competitive.
Think about it ... up until 3 days ago John McCain consistently referred to himself as a "deregulator" ... just on Monday John McCain said the "fundamentals" of the economy are sound ... and John McCain's top economic advisor is former senator Phil Gramm, one of the architects of legislation that gutted regulations from the financial markets. Gramm is also the same guy that said we're a "nation of whiners."
Now, to be fair, it was Bill Clinton who signed the legislation (Financial Services Modernization Act) into law in 1999, so I won't say it was all Phil Gramm's fault. However, there's also no doubt that Clinton and other Democrats were cowed by the republicans constant yelping about deregulation. Moreover, it was George W. Bush and the republican-led Congress that said "Let the market work it out ... don't worry about rising debt levels ... it's all good, as long as I get mine ..." Well, take a look at what that mentality has brought us ... it's not pretty (click on the graph to read).
As a nation we owe 3 times what we produce, and it all started with Ronald Reagan's deregulation and tax cut jihad scheme. You can come to your own conclusions regarding the parallels between 1929-1931 and today (if you can't figure it out you're probably a McCain supporter). My friends, the Mother of All Bailouts is only the beginning. It's simply buying Bush (and McCain) time to stay alive politically. Bush is already leaving with two failed wars under his belt. He doesn't want to leave the White House looking like Herbert Hoover too.
As usual with Bush, it's all about him. This is not over.
- Mark
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