One
of the more brazen attacks leveled against Mitt Romney in these last
weeks before the presidential election is that his economic proposals
are reckless and irresponsible. President Obama has repeatedly claimed that
his opponent, rather than follow his dignified example and demand that
wealthier Americans "pay their fair share," will instead cut their taxes
by $5 trillion -- and that the only mystery is whether the governor
will make the sacrosanct Middle Class pay the balance or add it to the
national debt.
Incidentally, $5 trillion happens to be not only the amount the presidential candidate could possibly add to the debt, but the amount the sitting president has already added. Yet somehow, speculation on what the challenger would do will trump what the incumbent seeking reelection has actually done.
When he began his presidency, Obama pledged "to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of [his] first term in office." He had no plan explaining how he would accomplish such a prodigious task, but uttering the magic words of fiscal responsibility was enough to convince a trusting constituency. He did, however, recommend numerous plans to increase the debt, from economic stimulus to socialized medicine, so it cannot be surprising that it now stands at over $16 trillion.
Mitt Romney, for what it's worth, has actually balanced several budgets in his time. He was, in fact, so good at balancing budgets that he was hired to balance budgets and earned his living balancing budgets. Barack Obama, however, has thoroughly depleted the significant political capital with which he began his presidency in large part by exhausting the nation's financial capital. Instead of cutting the deficit in half as promised, and merely slow rather than reverse an untenable rate of spending, he increased the budget deficit he inherited from President Bush, from $400 billion to $1.4 trillion. Each of the four budgets he has signed has added to the debt an average of $1.3 trillion; under his administration, the Federal Reserve has added nearly another trillion to both its balance sheet and the monetary base. This exceptionally abysmal performance has accordingly been awarded with a slew of credit downgrades.
Incidentally, $5 trillion happens to be not only the amount the presidential candidate could possibly add to the debt, but the amount the sitting president has already added. Yet somehow, speculation on what the challenger would do will trump what the incumbent seeking reelection has actually done.
When he began his presidency, Obama pledged "to cut the deficit we inherited by half by the end of [his] first term in office." He had no plan explaining how he would accomplish such a prodigious task, but uttering the magic words of fiscal responsibility was enough to convince a trusting constituency. He did, however, recommend numerous plans to increase the debt, from economic stimulus to socialized medicine, so it cannot be surprising that it now stands at over $16 trillion.
Mitt Romney, for what it's worth, has actually balanced several budgets in his time. He was, in fact, so good at balancing budgets that he was hired to balance budgets and earned his living balancing budgets. Barack Obama, however, has thoroughly depleted the significant political capital with which he began his presidency in large part by exhausting the nation's financial capital. Instead of cutting the deficit in half as promised, and merely slow rather than reverse an untenable rate of spending, he increased the budget deficit he inherited from President Bush, from $400 billion to $1.4 trillion. Each of the four budgets he has signed has added to the debt an average of $1.3 trillion; under his administration, the Federal Reserve has added nearly another trillion to both its balance sheet and the monetary base. This exceptionally abysmal performance has accordingly been awarded with a slew of credit downgrades.
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