Tuesday night I watched a Frontline special Ten Trillion and Counting on PBS. It offered a great explanation of our nation's debt and how we got so far in the hole.
As we all know there was a budget surplus handed to President Bush from President Clinton. 2 wars, massive tax cuts and Medicare part D drained the surplus and sent our economy into a deep recession topping 10 trillion dollars ($10,000,000,000,000). During the first six years of Bush's presidency with republican controlled congress spending was out of control. In those six years, he never once vetoed any spending measure including his ever popular tax cuts.
Watch the video on the PBS Frontline website. The video is arranged in five parts. I would have put them in this post, but the embedding didn't work. If you missed this Frontline episode Tuesday night I strongly encourage you to watch it online or read through some of the analysis here.
8 comments:
oh thanks for posting this. I was watching MSNBC this morning and some moron was commenting on how President Obama will be remembered for putting us all into massive debt. Ahem, excuse me? That would be the Bush legacy thank you very much.
I saw this on the cable guide a couple of days ago...
I have to confess; I was too chicken to watch it.
Thanks for the review.
I'll definitely check it out when I get a chance.
Yep, them political posts can be scary, huh?
Nicely done, Aliceson!
I have SO been avoiding posting about this...lol. For fear my blood pressure will rise. Or that I will say something out of anger that I wish I could take back (um, I tend to do that). Anyhow, great, short, unoffensive post! Nice!
I will only say , 'so true so true' and also throw in that I think it's sickening that you hear all the republicans NOW (now that Obama is in there) suddenly have developed a conscience. Oh my God, now they want to limit spending. blahhhhaaa hhaaa and there are actually people who do not see this. Something is seriously wrong with the world.
If I hear one more person blaming all this on the dems...or even laying blame on Obama (say what???) I'm going puke. They are just so stupid (no other word for it). Dumbasses.
Okay, sorry. See, this is why I try not to do political posts (and why I lost a lot of readers (and family) during the election! lol.
I do applaud the attention that you are bringing to the issue, and Frontline usually does present an unbiased view, which, for topics like this, is refreshing.
While I do agree that Bush-enomics may have taken us to the brink, I think this issue only came to light because of policies put into play by the fed, which is autonomous from the white house. Futhermore, while Bush may have taken us to the brink, I think it is partially refreshing for the republicans in congress proposing conservative spending options.
Just because bush took us to the edge, it doesnt mean that Obama should take us over that edge.
Additionally, while I applaud some of the social changes, and when things are down, it is usually a good time to change things, I must say that the majority of Americans DO NOT want additional debt, and the negative economic repercussions at this time, and that the congress, whether it is democrat or republican, they should both be cost conscious. This economy is not the situation for a pissing match or an attempt for one side to rub the others failures in their nose. Just because it's proposed by a democrat doesn't make it infallible. That's the type of thinking that got us to 10 trillion!
I haven't watched this yet, but when it comes to the republican opinion of President Obama I seriously don't understand how they can be so delusional. It baffles me. Completely.
I agree that the fed is also responsible, but that was not a part of this Frontline episode. I was simply reccomending something I thought was worth while.
I just don't understand how all of a sudden Republicans are screaming fiscal responsiblilty after years of spending money we don't have.
As much as I like the idea of Medicare part D for our seniors, I think it was an expensive political stunt that is lining the pockets of the drug companies.
Believe me I don't like the idea of borrowing money and being China's bitch either, but at this point we need to put Americans back to work.
Thank you all for commenting!!!
Oh man. Can't I just watch some 30 Rock instead? I really need a laugh these days:)
keeping with my theme of ignorance is bliss.... although I am a bit skeeeerdy about all the new spending.
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