Everything I’ve read and heard about this huge economic downturn attributes the mess in large part to people doing stupid things with credit. I’ve read more than a few stories about waitresses, dental hygenists and administrative assistants* getting lured into house flipping, only to find themselves staring at million dollar losses and complete ruination. All from credit–from believing things that are impossible, like that the market will never turn.
And now the President Who Can Do No Wrong seems to think that we can fix these problems. By putting the nation into debt. By doing…stupid things with credit.
The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama’s budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That’s $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget.
…
The latest figures, even worse than expected by top Democrats, throw a major monkey wrench into efforts to enact Obama’s budget, which promises universal health care for all and higher spending for domestic programs like education and research into renewable energy.
As warm and fuzzy as those ideas make most people feel (I personally could have a very expensive heart attack whenever someone mentions government-sponsored universal health care), it is clear that we can’t pay for it. The government is less able to pay for your health insurance than you are. That’s what those numbers mean.
So why, when we know that this mess was born out of credit abuses, are we trying to fix it by abusing credit?
What am I missing?
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* I’ve been remiss in writing up a post on this because I haven’t completed all the research I want to throw at it. But in all of the numbers I’m getting while researching it seems to me that something missing from the equation of the downturn is how anti-woman the whole thing was. By the time the market was starting to turn, investors already spread thin by risk were bringing on non-traditional risk-sharing partners. That means that single mothers with passable incomes and good credit were lured by the thousands into the increasingly dangerous flipping schemes right at the end game. Some of those worst hit are those who could least afford it. There’s a story there begging to be told in the right way.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
i am with you kat, it makes no sense to me and & hate that our new president is untouchable. can we start some of those billboard spending money (like you saw calculating the iraq war) on the bailout debt?
if the government was any other entity it would be out of business. but i suppose it would just bail itself out.. oh, it does every year.
i think i’m going libertarian. let’s get some weirdos in office that actually do believe in less gov meddling.
another thing, since you got me started, the economies always balance themselves out.. happens just about every decade. but, investors get back in cause there have never been outside influences, making irrational fly by the seat of the pants decisions, to effect & then scare them away.
let nature do its course. its a tough spot, but this isn’t the great depression. this is people just not being able to live above their means
Thanks for this post. I feel the same way. How can we ever pay the 11 trillion dollar national debt when we are spending more every day. Our government needs to do less, not more.