Campaign 2010

It is more than a little disingenuous for Republican candidates in WI to make statements such as, “every time the President opens his mouth it costs us another $50 billion”. Apparently these candidates have forgotten the $236 billion surplus at the end of the Clinton administration & the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and the runaway spending policies that ensued. During the 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency, the national debt increased by over 70% (from $5.7 trillion to over $9.8 trillion). To put it another way, in the fiscal years 1978 – 2005 during Democrat presidents, federal spending increased by 9.9% and the debt increased by 4.4% and GDP increased by 12.6%. Out of control spending? Perhaps John Boehner and his colleagues should look in the mirror.

During the same 1978 – 2005 period, under Republican presidents, federal spending increased by 12.1%, the federal debt increased by 36.4% and GDP increased by 10.7%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms


Thirty second sound bites during an election year just does not cut it for those of us who have a longer memory than elephants. We remember the years of supply side economics, 10% unemployment, and blue collar job losses.

A review of US Department of the Treasury data will show the steepest curves of the national debt occurred during the Republican years, not the Democrat years contrary to the false claims you will hear on the radio and TV. http://cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm

Congress needs to take a long hard look at unsustainable military spending (the 2010 Pentagon budget is $693 billion). The amount that is spent for soldiers' pay and veterans' benefits is a small part of this budget. We need to cut out wasteful budgeting & procurement practices and bloated bureaucracies. For some unknown reason policy makers find it easier to spend money on expensive toys than it is to take care of our people.

Nearly every day we hear stories about the inability of government to get aid to victims of tragedies such as Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, flooding in Pakistan, etc. If we were not spending a trillion dollars for an ill-conceived war in Iraq & Afghanistan we would have the resources we could commit to assisting people who are suffering from these tragedies. Contrary to the belief held by some politicians in Washington, our most important resource is not oil – it is our future, our children.

As for me, I will always vote for people first.