All the twitter about President Obama’s sneak attack on the Supreme Court and Justice Alito’s silent rejection of it masked the real news of the day: Our nation is beyond bankrupt and Democrats are committed to making matters worse by increasing the debt ceiling another 15% to $14T. For those who have trouble visualizing the scope of the disaster Presidents Clinton, Bush 43, and Obama have created for our children, that’s $14,300,000,000,000.
“Where did the money go?” would be a pertinent question to ask at this juncture, as would “When will these so-called leaders stop mortgaging the nation’s future?”. Sadly, neither of these seem to be on the minds of Congressmen/women these days.
Republicans criticized Democrats for passing a massive increase, arguing that a smaller increase would have been more responsible.
Coming from the “conservative” party, this criticism is as weak as ice tea left out in the sun on a hot July afternoon. What’s happened to the ideas of reducing the deficit and balancing the budget? Fiscal responsibility isn’t sexy and so lacks appeal to those more interested in keeping their cushy positions than in righting a ship that’s taking on water.
Still, at least one Republican has a sense of humor about the joke Democrats have played on us all by pretending the measure is one of economic soundness:
"It’s like the drunken sailor asking to have the bar open all night," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.).
President Obama didn’t take long to prove Gregg, who turned down a cabinet position last year, right by announcing an $8 billion dollar plan to create high-speed rail systems in several states, most of which are Democratic strongholds. Texas, which has long eyed commuter rail links between its 4 major cities, was essentially ignored by the president’s plan, such as it is:
None of these cash amounts will actually be enough to build the lines, of course. And things get messier as you go further down the list. The Northeast Corridor, for instance — where the utility of trains is already well proven and a high-speed line from Washington to Boston would generate tremendous excitement — only gets $112 million, while the car-dominated state of Texas receives a mere $4 million.
How inspiring. I’m old enough to remember the series of government handouts that kept Amtrak running long after economics dictated its failure. There’s no reason to think that these projects, underfunded and doomed to cost billions more than the president dares ask for, will be any more successful.
Drunken sailor’s night out indeed.