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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (83890)	5/12/2010 9:06:24 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 224749

The budget deficit is #6 on the top 10 problems list in Gallup Poll. gallup.com

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (83890)	5/17/2010 2:31:30 PM
From: TimF	3 Recommendations Respond to of 224749

Voters fed up with spendthrift Obama May 14, 2010 STEVE HUNTLEY shuntley.cst@gmail.com Passage of the massive health-care overhaul was supposed to repair the sagging political fortunes of President Obama, Congress and the Democrats. It didn't. That's not just because of the unpopularity of ObamaCare, though certainly it's a factor. No, there's something more fundamental at work. In 2008, America awoke from a binge of profligate borrowing, notably in housing, with a pounding economic hangover that brought the country to the brink of depression. The lesson was clear: We have to live within our means. This is a lesson that Washington has ignored. Yes, deficit spending has to be a part of government's response to a recession. But the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress have thrown caution to the wind by throwing money every which way, inundating the country in red ink. The rescue of the big banks, justified by the necessity of preventing financial collapse, morphed into saving General Motors and Chrysler, spending billions of the taxpayers' dollars for the expediency of protecting union jobs. That was just the start. Next came the stimulus bill. Besides failing to save or create enough jobs to keep unemployment below 8 percent, it also cost more than advertised. The $787 billion price tag soared to $862 billion, and the jobless rate is at 9.9 percent. Then, during economic hard times, Obama and the Democrats rammed through Congress a new health entitlement and bragged the biggest expansion of government in four decades would save money. Americans aren't buying it -- 63 percent think ObamaCare is likely to increase the deficit, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll. With good reason. This week the Congressional Budget Office reported the health-care overhaul law provides for discretionary spending that will add $115 billion to its cost, pushing its 10-year cost to more than $1 trillion. Other inconvenient reports found ObamaCare increasing national health-care spending by nearly a third of a trillion dollars over the decade, threatening private health insurance for millions of retirees, and hiring thousands of IRS agents to police its mandates. We're learning that not only do banks fail -- so can countries. A European financial crisis has erupted over tiny Greece spending beyond its means, threatening to damage Europe's economy and to spread across the Atlantic. Greece's debt stands at 124 percent of its gross domestic product. The figure for U.S. government debt is 92.6 percent of GDP. The trillion-dollar annual deficits Obama is running means it could breach 100 percent soon. No one expects America to end up like Greece -- our economy is too big and the dollar is still the world's currency. But Americans using common sense conclude government spending is out of control and threatens their well-being. Obama ran for president as a centrist, and Americans elected him to fix the economy. Instead, he's governed to the left, pushing cherished liberal goals like health care and the costs be damned. Polls pointing to Republican gains in November don't find enthusiasm for the GOP as much as distress with Obama policies. An event this week suggests further cause of the public's unease. An executive wrote Obama saying he had said false things about her firm. Chief Executive Angela Braly said his claim that WellPoint Inc. systematically drops insurance coverage of woman diagnosed with breast cancer "grossly misrepresents" the facts. Obama campaigned to end the nation's bitter, cynical politics. As Braly's letter suggests, he's done nothing of the kind. He has pushed a blatantly partisan agenda, employed emotionally charged populist rhetoric in attacking industries such as health insurers and finance, and stooped to personal attacks against political opponents like Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. While personally popular, Obama's policies and the tone of his governance are out of touch with what the American people want in these troubled times. suntimes.com