Dollar For Dollar

Okay, it's time to get serious...I've written enough fluff pieces for one week anyway. One of the lies that the Republican Party and their Tea Party co-horts have told continually is that President Obama has been spending money like it's going out of style and that if he was not stopped...Our children (It's always our children) and grandchildren would be stuck with a big bill after we are gone. Like we aren't paying bills our parents and grand-parents made today! Come on.

After reading articles in Newsweek, The Daily Beast and other publications..I wonder if the facts bare the Republicans and The Tea Party out? We are talking about facts here aren't we? I don't think these people ever came across a fact that they didn't try to hide or distort!


According to what I've been reading..President Obama has slashed a dollar of spending for every dollar he’s spent on government programs, making myths of his “spending illness” seem pretty ridiculous...but then again...I always thought most of what they were saying seemed pretty ridiculous to begin with.

So far, the Obama administration has pushed for six major, immediate spending increases that aren’t offset elsewhere in the budget: the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act ( “the stimulus package” for those of you who still don't look at or read the news.), which had a 2009-10 price tag of $340 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office; the GM/Chrysler bailout and other portions of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which have largely been paid back ($25 billion); unemployment-insurance extensions ($67 billion); COBRA extensions ($9 billion); Cash for Clunkers ($3 billion); and loans to automakers for energy-efficiency improvements ($8 billion).

That’s $452 billion. Factor in $296 billion in stimulus funds that have yet to be spent and $136 billion in refundable tax credits that passed in December as part of Congress’ bipartisan tax compromise, and you wind up with $884 billion on the spending side of the equation.

That’s a hefty sum of money.( A lotta "cake" as the hipsters would say) But here’s where this all gets interesting, check it out:President Obama’s tax cuts have been even bigger. The first of them, $238 billion in cuts for taxpayers and businesses, came as part of the stimulus package. The second portion, $721 billion worth, arrived in December, again as part of Congress’ bipartisan tax compromise. Subtract $54 billion in forthcoming stimulus-related tax hikes, and you’ve got a grand total of $905 billion in tax cuts. In other words,President Obama has slashed one tax dollar for every dollar he’s spent on government programs. HA! As P-Diddy would say-Take dat, Take Dat, Take Dat."

I want to say this is really cool news, but well, we live in America. A fantasy world where regardless of reality, Republicans and their bastard children, the Tea Party have a strong incentive to keep characterizing the president’s spending as an ‘'out-of-control,’' ‘'unprecedented’',(Can you say George W. Bush?) ''irresponsible spree spending’' that "threatens our children’s future. ''(Always with the children).

They clearly are more interested in scaring a certain segment of America and getting this Black man out of the white house than they are in telling the truth...but then again, that's been the pattern all along hasn't it?