I.O.U.S.A. Read Online Free PDF Page B

conversation well before and long after the 2008 election.
    Or maybe we should just wait for the next bubble.
    cintro.indd 13
    8/26/08 11:36:39 PM

    cintro.indd 14
    8/26/08 11:36:39 PM

    C h a p t e r 1
    THE REAL STATE OF
    THE UNION
    I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but our own fi scal irresponsibility.
    —David Walker, former comptroller
    general of the United States
    On January 28, 2008, the forty - third president of the United States, George W. Bush, gave the fi nal State of the Union address of his presidency. During the speech, he was interrupted 72 times by applause. Curiously, the president only broached the nation ’ s defi cit once, briefl y, and then only to reassert the administration ’ s pie - in - the - sky projection that it will be reduced to zero by 2012.
    The president asserted his administration ’ s premise that tax cuts would spur economic growth and that growth would, in turn, help the nation “ grow ” its way out of debt. Yet, even by Congress ’ s own measures, as of late January 2008, the 15
    c01.indd 15
    8/26/08 8:41:00 PM

    16 The
    Mission
    yearly defi cit for that year was already on track to increase by $219 billion. It in fact ended the year at $482 billion more than twice the projection. Those fi gures don ’ t include off -
    budget spending for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nor do they include the so - called economic stimulus checks the president and Congress passed out to American consumers in the spring. The economy in the meantime had been teetering towards recession — no “ growth ” at all — for nearly two years.
    During the speech, the President used the word debt once, despite the fact that the national I.O.U. had already crossed the $9 trillion threshold in the same month. By the time the Bush administration leaves offi ce in January 2009 it will have tacked on another trillion.
    A complicit Congress has already given the green light for
    Debt Ceiling:
    The maximum
    such a debt burden by raising the debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion.
    borrowing power
    On July 26, 2008, Congress snuck the increase into the Federal of a governmental
    Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, which was entity; this limit
    passed to bail out giant mortgage enablers Fannie Mae and is set, and can
    Freddie Mac and to help victims of bank foreclosures.
    therefore be raised,
    by Congress.
    A short review of contemporary history reveals that the State of the Union is nothing more than political theatre. Congress has interrupted every president with partisan applause since the addresses made their television debut during the Eisenhower administration. We combed the archives looking for examples of leadership in tough economic times but found little more than sound bites and vacuous promises:
    “ We must try to break this calamitous cycle. ” President Eisenhower was referring to the huge explosion in our debt during World War II.
    “ We will continue on the path to a balanced budget. ”
    Then President Johnson put his stamp of approval on Medicare benefi ts, one of the most expensive programs in federal history.
    “ We have been self
    - indulgent, ” President Ford chided
    Congress in 1975.
    c01.indd 16
    8/26/08 8:41:08 PM

    Chapter 1 The Real State of the Union 17
    “ and now the bill has come due . . . . The State of the Union is not good. ”
    “ We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow.
    ”
    President Reagan looked earnest, but he grew the debt more than two and a half times — from just under $1 billion to $2.6 billion.
    “ We will solve problems, ” George H. W. Bush (number 41) said before failing to keep his promise not to raise taxes,
    “ and not leave them to future generations. ”
    “ We need a spending discipline in Washington, D.C. ” said President George W. Bush (number 43) to wild applause on January 28, 2008.
    As we have seen, Congress and the presidents bask in