It’s Official: Obama Has Now Increased Debt More than All Presidents Combined

The Obama administration passed another fiscal milestone this week, according to new data released by the Treasury Department.

As of the close of business on Oct. 3, the total national debt was $14,837,099,271,196.71—up about $44.8 billion from Sept. 30.

That means that in the less-than-three-years Obama has been in office, the federal debt has increased by $4.212 trillion — more than the total national debt of about $4.1672 trillion accumulated by all 41 U.S. presidents from George Washington through George H.W. Bush combined.

This $4.212-trillion increase in the national debt means that during Obama’s term the federal government has already borrowed about an additional $35,835 for every American household — or $44,980 for every full-time private-sector worker.

(According to the Census Bureau there were about 117,538,000 households in the country in 2010, and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were about 93,641,000 full-time private-sector workers.)

When Obama was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, according to the Treasury Department, the total national debt stood at $10,626,877,048,913.08.

At the end of January 1993, the month that President George H. W. Bush left office, the total national debt was $4.1672 trillion, according to the Treasury.

Thus, the total national debt accumulated by the first 41 presidents combined was about $44.8 billion less than the approximately $4.212 trillion in new debt added during Obama’s term.

As of Monday, Obama had been in office 986 days—or about 32 and a half months. During that time, the debt increased at an average pace of $4.27 billion per day.

Were that rate to continue until Obama’s term ends on Jan. 20, 2013, the debt would then stand at about $16.86534 trillion—an increase of more than $6.2 trillion for Obama’s four years.

That would equal nearly $53,000 for each American household or more than $66,000 for each full-time private-sector worker.

From:  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-has-now-increased-debt-more-all-presidents-george-washington-through-george-hw

Hypocrite Obama Ran Against Bush, But Now Governs Like Him

He ran as the anti-Bush.

Silver-tongued, not tongue-tied. A team player on the world stage, not a lone cowboy. A man who’d put a stop to reckless Bush policies at home and abroad. In short, Barack Obama represented Change.

Well, that was then. Now, on one major policy after another, President Barack Obama seems to be morphing into George W. Bush.

On the nation’s finances, the man who once ripped Bush as a failed leader for seeking to raise the nation’s debt ceiling now wants to do it himself.

On terrorism, he criticized Bush for sending suspected terrorists to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and denying them access to U.S. civilian courts. Now he says he’ll do the same.

On taxes, he called the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy wrong, and lately began calling again to end them. But in December he signed a deal with Republicans to extend them for two years, and recently he called the entire tax cut package good for the country.

DEBT

In 2006, Bush had cut taxes, gone to war, and expanded Medicare, and increased the national debt from $5.6 trillion to $8.2 trillion. He needed approval from Congress to raise the ceiling for debt to $9 trillion.

The Senate approved the increase by a narrow vote of 52-48.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., voted no.

“Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally,” Obama said in 2006. “Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”

Now Obama’s on the other side. He’s increased the national debt to $14 trillion, and needs Congress to approve more debt. Moreover, Obama’s aides now say that congressional meddling to use that needed vote to wrangle budget concessions from the White House would be inappropriate and risk financial Armageddon.

What about Obama’s own vote against the president in a similar situation? A mistake, the White House said.

TERRORISTS

As a presidential candidate, Obama vowed a broad reversal of Bush’s policies toward suspected terrorists.

Most pointedly, he said he’d close the prison in Cuba and try suspected terrorists in civilian courts, not in military tribunals.

“I have faith in America’s courts,” he said in a 2007 speech. “As president, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and our Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists.”

He ran into a torrent of opposition, however. Members of Congress balked at transferring suspected terrorists to U.S. prisons. New Yorkers balked when his administration said it would try accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court in lower Manhattan.

Last month, he changed course, saying he’d keep Guantanamo Bay open, and would try Mohammed before a military court.

The reversal, said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, “is yet another vindication of President Bush’s detention policies by the Obama administration.”

Echoing Bush, Obama’s also asserted that he has the power to hold suspected terrorists without charges or trial, and that he has the power to kill U.S. citizens abroad if his government considers them a terrorist threat.

WAR POWERS

During his campaign, Obama signaled that he’d be far more circumspect than Bush was in using military power. He did say he’d send more troops to Afghanistan, which he’s done, and that he’d attack al Qaida terrorists in Pakistan, which he’s also done.

But he opposed the Iraq war from the start, and said he didn’t think the president should wage war for humanitarian purposes or act without congressional approval, absent an imminent threat to the U.S.

“The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation,” he told The Boston Globe in 2007.

“In instances of self-defense, the president would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action.”

On March 19, the U.S. attacked Libya on humanitarian grounds, absent any threat to the U.S. and without approval from Congress.

From:  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/18/112346/obama-ran-against-bush-but-now.html

Obama’s New Budget Proposal: How the Phony $4 Trillion in “Cuts” Results in $26 Trillion In New Debt (Enslaving Our Children and Grandchildren)

(NaturalNews) A mugger confronts a business man walking down the street, flashing a sharp knife. “Give me all your money. I’ve got kids to feed,” he insists. The business man calmly responds, “Well that’s not fair, I’ve got kids to feed, too.”

 

Momentarily flummoxed, the mugger works out a bit of math and retorts, “Okay, I’m gonna take a balanced approach with you. Just give me HALF of all your money, and we’ll call it even.”

 

Such is the logic of the Obama administration, which now absurdly proposes that spending America into a total debt collapse is somehow a “balanced approach.”

 

Sure, it is balanced in the same way that a man walking a tightrope strung 35 stories above the city street, carrying two suitcases stuffed with hundreds of pounds of T-bills, with strong winds and a forecast of an approaching hail storm is also “balanced.”

 

That Obama could even pretend such a scenario is healthy for the future of America just goes to show you the depth of financial insanity that has gripped the players in Washington D.C. — on both sides of the aisle.

 

Today, President Obama proposed spending cuts of $4 trillion over the next 12 years, but just as we figured, virtually none of those cuts kick in until Obama is out of office. They’re all “back-loaded” cuts that happen at some theoretical time in the future rather than right now.

 

It’s like a heroin addict who says, “I’ll quit my habit tomorrow. Just not right now” as he takes another hit.

 

Notably, Obama’s so-called balanced budget cuts don’t balance the budget. A $4 trillion cut in spending over 12 years is still a complete joke, and here’s why:

 

The U.S. government will likely rack up at least $30 trillion in new debt over those same 12 years, just based on a very conservative estimate of current growth rates in the debt.

 

In other words, under Obama’s new plan, the national debt will still grow by a net amount of $26 trillion over the next 12 years even after the $4 trillion in so-called cuts. Obama’s debt spending is accelerating so rapidly that the mathematicians now call it a “blowout phase” of government debt.

 

And what, exactly, is getting blown out?

 

Your future, of course. But according to Obama, that’s a “balanced approach.”

 

He’s going to burden your children and grandchildren with the greatest debt the world has ever seen –

 

– a debt so large and growing so quickly that no nation can conceivably escape from under its weight… especially a nation that has lost its manufacturing base, that has dumbed down its education system and that has routinely poisoned its population with fluoride, medications and chemical food additives.

 

The odds of America ever paying off its national debt are approximately the same odds of a Japanese senior citizen surfing a 5-meter-high tsunami wave to the safety of dry land.

 

From our good friends at NaturalNews.com:  http://www.naturalnews.com/032065_national_debt_President_Obama.html

Thanks Obama! National Debt Jumps Another $72 Billion In ONE DAY

The national debt jumped by $72 billion on Tuesday even as the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution to fund the government for just three weeks that will cut $6 billion from government spending.

 

If Congress were to cut $6 billion every three weeks for the next 36 weeks, it would manage to save as much money as the Treasury added to the nation’s net debt during just the business hours of Tuesday, March 15.

 

At the close of business on Monday, according to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt, the total national debt stood at $14.166 trillion ($14,166,030,787,779.80).

 

At the close of business Tuesday, the debt stood at $14.237 trillion ($14,237,952,276,898.69), an increase of $71.9 billion ($71,921,489,118.89).

 

From: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/debt-jumped-72-billion-same-day-house-vo

Thanks, Obama! Debt Now Equals Total U.S. Economy

President Obama projects that the gross federal debt will top $15 trillion this year, officially equalling the size of the entire U.S. economy, and will jump to nearly $21 trillion in five years’ time.

 

Amid the other staggering numbers in the budget Mr. Obama sent to Congress on Monday, the debt stands out — both because Congress will need to vote to raise the debt limit later this year, and because the numbers are so large.

 

Mr. Obama‘s budget said 2011 will see the biggest one-year jump in debt in history, or nearly $2 trillion in a single year. And the administration says it will reach $15.476 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, to reach 102.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) — the first time since World War II that dubious figure has been reached.

 

In one often-cited study, two economists have argued that when gross debt passes 90 percent it hinders overall economic growth.

 

The president’s budget said debt as a percentage of GDP will top out at 106 percent in 2013, but only if the economy booms.

 

“I still don’t see a sense of urgency from the president about the massive federal debt,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican. “His budget calls for too much government borrowing – even though the debt is already at a level that makes it harder to create private-sector jobs.”  

Thanks, Obama! New Budget is $1.5 Trillion Tax Hike Over 10 Years!

President Obama released his budget this morning.  Rather than focusing on Washington’s over-spending problem, the budget calls for higher taxes on families and small businesses to pay for even more government spending. 

 

Under the Obama budget, tax revenues will grow from 14.4% of GDP in 2011 to 20% of GDP in 2021.  By comparison, the historical average is only 18% of GDP.

 

Tax hike lowlights include:

 

•Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%.  This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike

 

•Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%

 

•Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million.  This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike

 

•Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate.  This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses.  A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more.  This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike

 

•New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years

 

•New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years

 

•New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years

 

•Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years

 

•Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years

 

•Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership (“carried interest”) as ordinary income.  This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years

 

•A giveaway to the trial lawyers—not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement.  This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years

 

•Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing.  This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion.

 

Add it all together, and this budget is a ten-year, $1.5 trillion tax hike over present law.  That’s $1.5 trillion taken out of the economy and spent on government instead of being used to create jobs.

 

The “tax relief” in the budget is mostly just an extension of present law, and also some refundable credit outlay spending in the tax code.  There is virtually no new tax relief relative to present law in the President’s budget.

 

From:  http://www.atr.org/obamas-fy-budgetbr-taxes-more-a5844#

Thanks, Obama! Deficit to Spike to $1.65 Trillion

The White House projected Monday that the federal deficit would spike to $1.65 trillion in the current fiscal year, the largest dollar amount ever, adding pressure on Democrats and Republicans to tackle growing levels of debt.

 

The new estimate is part of Mr. Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012, which becomes public Monday morning.

 

Mr. Obama is proposing $3.73 trillion in government spending in the next fiscal year.

 

At $1.65 trillion, the administration’s projection for the 2011 deficit is significantly larger than the $1.48 trillion estimated by the non-\partisan Congressional Budget Office a few weeks ago. In fiscal year 2010, the deficit was $1.29 trillion.

 

From:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703361904576143253522341850.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

What Happened to Obama “Stimulus”? Housing Crash Now Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable

Few believed the housing market here would ever collapse. Now they wonder if it will ever stop slumping.

 

The rolling real estate crash that ravaged Florida and the Southwest is delivering a new wave of distress to communities once thought to be immune — economically diversified cities where the boom was relatively restrained.

 

In the last year, home prices in Seattle had a bigger decline than in Las Vegas. Minneapolis dropped more than Miami, and Atlanta fared worse than Phoenix.

 

The bubble markets, where builders, buyers and banks ran wild, began falling first, economists say, so they are close to the end of the cycle and in some cases on their way back up. Nearly everyone else still has another season of pain.

 

“When I go out and talk to people around town, they say, ‘Wow, I thought we were going to have a 12 percent correction and call it a day,’ ” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for the housing site Zillow, which is based in Seattle. “But this thing just keeps on going.”

 

Seattle is down about 31 percent from its mid-2007 peak and, according to Zillow’s calculations, still has as much as 10 percent to fall.

 

Mr. Humphries estimates the rest of the country will drop a further 5 and 7 percent as last year’s tax credits for home buyers continue to wear off.

Thanks, Obama…National Debt Tops $14 Trillion

The latest posting today of the National Debt shows it has topped $14 trillion for the first time.

 

The U.S. Treasury website today reported that as of last Friday, the last day of 2010, the National Debt stood at $14,025,215,218,708.52.

 

It took just 7 months for the National Debt to increase from $13 trillion on June 1, 2010 to $14 trillion on Dec. 31. It also means the debt is fast approaching the statutory ceiling $14.294 trillion set by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last February.

 

The federal government would have to stop borrowing and might even default on its obligations if Congress fails to increase the Debt Ceiling before the limit is reached.

 

From:  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20027090-503544.html

USA Today Opinion Column: Beware of the Obama Tax Increases…

Listening to the Democrats this summer, you’re unlikely to hear about an impending tax increase.

In an effort to sanitize their historically irresponsible decision to raise tax rates in the midst of a struggling economy, President Obama and the congressional majority say they are merely “allowing the Bush tax cuts” to expire.

Skillful messaging perhaps, but cold comfort to the millions of Americans and small businesses who aren’t concerned with what their effective tax rate was in 2001. For them, on Jan. 1, one of two things will happen: Taxes will go up, or taxes will stay the same. Coming to grips with this reality will be crucial to jumpstarting the economic recovery. Decisions on whether to buy an appliance, invest in a company, or expand a business are made by taking into account after-tax returns in the future — not in the past.

Democrats want Americans to believe that by letting tax rates rise they have discovered religion as deficit cutters. But after a two-year assault on the federal trough in which Congress passed the notoriously wasteful stimulus and added a new health care entitlement, few Americans are even bothering to listen.

In reality, the harm this tax increase will inflict on jobs and gross domestic product will strongly outweigh any presumed boost in tax revenues.

Here’s a look at what’s coming:

•Taxes will jump next year on everything from ordinary income, capital gains, dividends and estates. And with our national debt soaring, the prospect of even more tax increases in the future seems more likely.

 •Health-care costs are growing as a result of Obamacare’s mandates and inflationary impact on premiums.

 •Energy costs remain in limbo as leading Democrats, led by Sen. John Kerry, float the idea of passing cap-and-trade during the lame-duck session of Congress.

 •Credit is becoming more expensive and is increasingly out of reach for most small businesses, partly because the 2,300-plus page financial regulatory bill encourages banks to horde their capital rather than lend it.

 •Labor costs also threaten to climb higher as labor unions dig in their heels and gear up for another push to pass card check.

 During last night’s Oval Office address, President Obama vowed that America would “nurture the ideas that spring from our entrepreneurs.” But if government doesn’t stop penalizing hard work and discouraging risk taking, there won’t be any entrepreneurs left.

Next year, President Obama is going to preside over one of the largest tax increases on families and small businesses in American history. How his administration has convinced itself that this is a good idea right now is beyond comprehension.

 Mr. President, the federal budget is teeming with waste. If you want to rein in the deficit, Republicans welcome you to sit down with us and go line by line through the budget to cut needless spending. But don’t impose sweeping tax hikes that will only make a bad economic picture much worse.

 by Eric Cantor

Excerpted from:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-09-02-cantor01_ST_N.htm