{"id":672,"date":"2010-01-28T13:12:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T17:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=672"},"modified":"2010-01-28T13:12:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-28T17:12:00","slug":"president-barack-obama-on-gov-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=672","title":{"rendered":"President Barack Obama on Gov Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what was said about\u00a0government spending in the President\u2019s State of the Union Address last evening.\u00a0 The President started by providing a little recent history: \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion.\u00a0 By the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1 trillion and projected deficits of $8 trillion over the next decade.\u00a0 Most of this was the result of not paying for two wars, two tax cuts, and an expensive prescription drug program.\u00a0 On top of that, the effects of the recession put a $3 trillion hole in our budget.\u00a0 All this was before I walked in the door.\u00a0 Now — just stating the facts.\u00a0 Now, if we had taken office in ordinary times, I would have liked nothing more than to start bringing down the deficit.\u00a0 But we took office amid a crisis.\u00a0 And our efforts to prevent a second depression have added another $1 trillion to our national debt.\u00a0 That, too, is a fact.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then he announced his plan to curb government spending.\u00a0\u00a0Zap!! <\/strong><\/em>– a freeze in spending for three years!\u00a0 However\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected.\u00a0 But all other discretionary government programs will.\u00a0 Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

…and…\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>this freeze won’t take effect until next year when the economy is stronger.\u00a0 That’s how budgeting works.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that this is still not enough, President Obama also establishes a commission: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the cost of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will continue to skyrocket.\u00a0 That’s why I’ve called for a bipartisan fiscal commission, modeled on a proposal by Republican Judd Gregg and Democrat Kent Conrad.\u00a0 (Applause.)\u00a0 This can’t be one of those Washington gimmicks that lets us pretend we solved a problem.\u00a0 The commission will have to provide a specific set of solutions by a certain deadline.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The President seems to be under no illusions that\u00a0this is\u00a0a Herculean task:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But understand \u2013- understand if we don’t take meaningful steps to rein in our debt, it could damage our markets, increase the cost of borrowing, and jeopardize our recovery -\u2013 all of which would have an even worse effect on our job growth and family incomes….\u00a0\u00a0Rather than fight the same tired battles that have dominated Washington for decades, it’s time to try something new.\u00a0 Let’s invest in our people without leaving them a mountain of debt.\u00a0 Let’s meet our responsibility to the citizens who sent us here.\u00a0 Let’s try common sense.\u00a0 A novel concept.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Novel indeed!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Here\u2019s what was said about\u00a0government spending in the President\u2019s State of the Union Address last evening.\u00a0 The President started by providing a little recent history: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200 billion.\u00a0 By the time I took office, we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[52],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":673,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions\/673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}