All I can say about your statement above is that it is buffoonish. You are wrong in your analysis and you're rude on top of it. (OK, now you can call me names again in response)

A stimulus that did nothing but line many pockets and Obama care that will sink us is narrowmindedness? I suppose the fall of the Roman Empire was narrowmindedness, also?

Please, this Nation is sinking in debt, and all you can do is name-calling?

perfect.....that narrow chain of thought is consistant at least. Only the healthcare bill and the stimulus put us in debt. Nothing else was responsible. If you believe that now that's buffoonery.

What put us in debt, Mr. Buffoon, is all the spending that did not result in any noticeable increase in revenue. Wake up and smell the Obama. He absolutely blew it, or he did it on purpose. There's no other explanation.

Actually the policies of the following presidents contributed to our present problems and weakened our defense. FDR, LBJ, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama . FDR is the exception for defense since we were involved in WWII. They all forced legilsation that increased spending for social redistribution issues, weakened our defense and created environmental and accounting practices that are not conducive for business and economic growth and they and Democrats such as Dodd-Frank have had a devasting effect on this country's economy.

Obama now wants more taxes so he can expand our redistribution of wealth madoff schemes. An author asked an interesting question "why is it that the goverment believes it can more effectively capitalize on increase taxes for growing jobs then business leaders? Does anyone reading this post believe our government uses our taxes effectively?

we spend more money on defense than the rest of the world combined! They have been given EVERYTHING and more. The defense establishment wastes more money than any other group. They are true pigs when it comes to over-budget spending. To even hint that they have been shortchanged is mind bogling. Our defense budget is part of the problem of out of control spending. But in your view thats OK,lets just cut everything else. I do love your choice of presidents,all Dems,what a surprise. There's that narrow minded thought process again. By the way please don't forget what REPUBLICAN president Eisenhower said about the military industrial complex. You should look it up widen your range of ideas.

Well, except for the 2001 attack, there has been no fighting on American soil. Score one for defense spending. How about the war on poverty that we are still paying? How has that helped America? It has made a whole new industry of parasites feeding on our taxes. We now have about 50 million people receiving food stamps. OH. You cannot say that anymore. They have food credit cards so they can have self respect when they purchase their steaks and junk food.

The democrats have diluted the education system to the point that companies must import good employees. Department of education? What a waste of funds. How about the department of energy? Another boondoggle.

No thanks, I'll keep the defense spending.

At Best, Misleading...At Worst, A Lie
 

Yeah, I did read it, as a matter of fact. You have every right to "take Sowell's analysis". But I will certainly point out where he is wrong or has presented his assertions in a very misleading way.

First of all Thomas Sowell is a columnist, not a reporter. His job is to write controversial columns. While he is syndicated in many publications, The Villages Daily Sun included, he primary employer is The National Review. Founded by William F. Buckley, it describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."

OK, so Sowell is a far right wing columnist writing in a far right wing magazine. That's OK with me. I think one needs to read the opinion of both conservatives and liberals to arrive at some personal beliefs and opinions.

Where I differ with Sowell is his assertion that the national debt is the result of runaway spending by the Obama administration. His assertion is not supported by the facts. In his column he says, "... the bill is coming due for all that (Democratic) spending and borrowing, Republicans are suddenly being invited to share the blame..." The GOP should share the blame, regardless of what Sowell says.

The facts are that when George W.Bush took office, the national debt was $5.73 trillion. When he left, it was $10.7 trillion. That's an increase of $4.97 trillion, almost doubling the national debt during his administration. The current national debt (at this minute according to the U.S. National Debt Clock) is $14,551,015,000, an increase of 36% since President Obama was inaugurated.

That amount of increase is nothing for President Obama and the Democratically-controlled 111th Congress to be proud of. But for Sowell to now lay the blame for the entire national debt problem on the current President's doorstep is simply incorrect. This President will have to deal with it, hopefully slowing the rate at which it increases or maybe even balancing the budget by the time he leaves office. But he certainly didn't cause the whole problem. Our deficit spending and debt had a gigantic running start when Obama took office. And during much of the Bush administration, the Congressm that did all that spending was controlled by the Republicans!

Sowell does make some very important statements in his column...

"...however much the media are focused on what is happening inside the Beltway, there is a whole country outside the Beltway — and the time is long overdue to start thinking about what is best for the rest of the country, not just for right now but for the long haul...."

"...Too many policies, programs, and institutions are judged by what they are supposed to do, rather than by what they actually do and the consequences of their actions..."

Independent analysis by the non-partisan Government Accounting Office shows that the two biggest factors contributing to the current national debt were the Bush tax cuts and the stimulus spending programs. One was passed by a Republican administration and the other by a Democratic administration. Both had honest, high-minded objectives. Neither program came close to achieving their objectives.

By the way, although many here assert that Obamacare is costing so much that it will break the country, it has yet to make even the very bottom of the list of contributors to our current national debt problem. The Bush prescription drug bill makes it all the way into the top six factors causing the dramatic increase in our debt, according to the Government Accounting Office.

So now we are where we are. Unfortunately, it appears that the members of the current Congress are playing political games rather than addressing the very real and very critical problem. It's as if winning the political game is more important than any of the effects of their failure to collectively address the problem.

As far as I'm concerned, they all ought be thrown out of office. The country can do that with the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, it'll take six years to clean out the Senate. Anyone who simply votes for a party in the next election deserves what such an action will bring.

OK VK if you want to discount the learned Thomas Sowell as a mere "conservative columnist", but you really should learn a little more about him before you do.

I'm guessing Mr. Sowell has written more books on economics that you have and might even have a more extensive education and life in educational settings than you have, although I could be wrong because I only know of the vast education and brilliant writings of Mr. Sowell and not really much about you, so forgive me if I'm mistaken.

http://www.hoover.org/fellows/9767

http://www.tsowell.com/

Richie, how does Sowell's academic reputation or how many books he's written change the record of the national debt year-by-year or the analysis of actual expenditures recently completed by the GAO?

Geez, man, Sowell's a good columnist, but for crying out loud the facts are the facts!

It's interesting that the "facts" aren't always what they appear to be. Numbers don't always signify what they are promoted to mean. Obviously these are correct musings because the learned Mr. Sowell and you disagree on what you consider "facts".

Well, the Obama administration has been very kind to the banking industry. No? Comparing this Mr, Kahuna to Sowell, surly you jest.

Back on subject:

http://www.maggiesnotebook.com/2011/...ush-was-white/

That's The Way It Is
 

Richie...plain and simple, the official record of the United States of America shows that from 2001 until 2008 the national debt almost doubled. Then from the time President Obama took over until now, our debt increased by an additional 36%. Then the non-partisan Government Accounting Office simply added up the country's revenues and spending and listed the major items that contributed to our debt.

What in the world does your statement "facts aren't always what they appear to be" mean? Or "numbers don't always signify what they are promoted to mean".

I'm not creating new facts or numbers, nor am I trying to present or interpret them in some twisted sort of way. The numbers are the numbers. You can blame roughly one-third of the current national debt on the present administration if you wish. But about two-thirds of it was created by previous administrations and Congresses.

Barack Obama was an Illinois state senator until he was sworn into the U.S. Senate in 2005. At the end of fiscal 2005 Barack Obama had been in the U.S. Senate for five months and the national debt was already $7,932,709,661,723.50. Are you and Mr. Sowell seriously going to try to blame Obama for all the deficit spending that occurred between 2001 and 2005 when he wasn't even part of the federal government?

Please tell me, how can Thomas Sowell, you, or any other conservative partisan argue that the current President is responsible for all the current national debt? I don't care what Sowell's academic resumé shows or the number of books he has written. The facts are the facts...history is history. I know it's tough for people who have such hatred for this President to accept, but that's the way it is.

Wow! That's A Stretch!
 

Holy Cats! What does this have to do with this thread? The link you provided from Maggie's blog is as ridiculous an allegation as the one made by someone here on this forum recently--that the reason that the Brits are prosecuting Rupert Murdoch is because he owns Fox News.

When one's hatred for something or somebody gets this intense, I guess you just start making stuff up...just like that looney tunes congresswoman shown in the video you linked. What's scary is that there are people like the one shown in the video that are actually governing this country. Scarier still, the majority of the 700,000 or so people she represents in Congress actually voted for her! In her case, for nine terms! Unbelievable!

Funny how all the Democrats voted against raising the debt ceiling when we had a Republican President. Do you want to hear some of Obama's quotes from 2006? What a bunch of fakes.