Where Have You Been, America?

Recently, I saw a commercial about government spending. The ad outlines all of the spending of the Obama administration thus far, and the estimated cost of the proposed health care bill. The commercial showed money being printed and asked the government to stop spending, because all of the money is gone.

Um... the money has been gone for a very, very long time.

I love that Americans are standing up and questioning the choices of the government, but this is not a new phenomenon. Government spending has been exceeded revenue for decades. money has been printed to supply this spending for just as long. Not since President Andrew Jackson in 1835 has the United States not been in debt to itself. The accomplishment was short lived, however, as a depression two years later caused the government to start going into debt with itself again.

Yes, we had a budget surplus under President Clinton, but one could argue it was due to Newt Gingrich and the Republican-controlled congress's policies. And I am by no means ignoring the spending of the Bush administration. I do believe some of the spending was required as a result of the attack of September 11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the federal bail outs and other spending during the presidency were unnecessary and too high.

Yes, I have not read any of the 1000+ pages of the health care bill, therefore I cannot argue over the bill's contents, but I can argue to the cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill could cost up to $3 trillion dollars in the next ten years. After the the $3.6 trillion dollar budget proposed by President Obama for the 2010 fiscal year, this is not a cost we can bare. New unemployment filings were up by 8,000 for the month of July, and retail sales were down 0.1% for the month. With an economy still in a recession, this bill is not a cost that America can afford right now.