No excuse for Obama’s statement about Social Security checks

The man is a liar, and although I have great respect for the office and have in the past exclusively “attacked” his policies, I have to wonder if the man himself is a bit of a delusional nut who thinks he’s got – in this example – seniors and others on Social Security “in the bag.”

Vicevich had the audio yesterday morning I think, but here is the quote as released by CBS News. (Video below.)

“I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, according to excerpts released by CBS News.

In other words, come Aug. 3, President Obama wants you to think the government will have no money and will not be able to write any checks. This is a total and complete lie.

Without a doubt, we are spending a lot more money than the federal government takes in. That of course is what we refer to as the monthly or yearly deficit. The total accumulated amount over the months and years is what is referred to as the national debt.

Note the last two words in the first sentence – takes in. The president seems to be under the assumption that as of Aug. 3, no more people will be paying any sort of tax to the federal government. Hogwash.

Congress and the president will simply be required to make some decisions as to what government bills will and will not be paid. They will be forced to cut spending. By threatening to cut off the checks, he’s pulling the oldest liberal play out of the book.

In 2010, the total receipts (Excel data from U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)) taken in by the federal government was $2.16 trillion dollars. That is $180 billion per month. In other words we have the ability to write checks totaling $180 billion per month, anything else would require the federal government to run a deficit and require a higher debt limit. Of course the problem is we spent $3.46 trillion in 2010, that’s an unheard of (pre-Obama) deficit of $1.3 trillion.

This data – again an Excel sheet from the GPO – breaks down outlays by superfunction and function  including those on-budget and off-budget. The total per month paid out under the Social Security “function” is $58.9 billion. (Note the CBS interview mentioned a much lower figure of $20 billion.) That leaves us with a bit more than $121 billion. What else can we pay for?

How about paying the interest on the national debt. That looks to be $16.35 billion. We certainly would not want to “default” on our debt would we?

Medicare? $37.6 billion.

National defense? $57.75 billion.

Those items total just over $170 billion leaving us with $10 billion in the bank. I encourage you comments below, but do not give me the “what about this and that” answer. The point of this post is – and let me be clear – to call President Barack Obama a liar, it is not to quibble about the numbers.

He’s the one who was unsure if there would be enough money to send out Social Security checks with the disgusting political posturing of trying to freak out people. There will be more than enough money to pay out those funds, but Congress and the president will need to step up and make some decisions on spending.

Republicans in Washington seem to want to have that discussion, while the president and Democrats are willing to play politics with the standard fear-mongering crap that will get us nowhere. Republicans need to hold firm and demand we deal with the excessive out-of-control spending now.

Others writing include Gateway Pundit, Doug Powers at Malkin’s blog, The Washington Times, Andrew Stiles at The Corner, Hot Air, Charles Gasperino at the New York Post, and American Thinker.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

22 Comments

  1. Plainvillian on July 13, 2011 at 9:49 am

    The thug threatens….. .



  2. Jeff S on July 13, 2011 at 10:24 am

    Approval ratings in the 40’s … How is it that high??? We are experiencing America’s low point in existance.?? McConnell’s offer yesterday is exactly what this guy wants, complete authority over spending and the debt?limit.??He will make congress irrelevent if he’s not stopped.?



  3. PatRiot on July 13, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    Welfare recipients, children, the sick, unemployment payments will be next – but for no good reasons.
    There is so much wasted money, we could make cuts, keep gov’t open and make our debt payment.? No need for extra taxes or raising the debt ceiling.?
    Regarding McConnell – SAD !!? Truely indicates what politicians are about – He wants to give his (Congress’) responsibility to the Pres..? Unconstitutional, spineless and smacks of turning this country from a Republic into a kingdom.? And I doubt it would be a benevolent dictatorship.



  4. GdavidH on July 13, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    This man has no conscience.

    I pity?those who still buy into his purely political BS.?



  5. Dimsdale on July 13, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    ?
    Is it just me, or does it seem that his ears get bigger every time he has a press conference?
    ?
    Of course he is a liar: he has been lying unrepentantly and transparently (the only transparency this administration practices) since he began his run for the presidency.? “Not using scare tactics” is the second Big Lie of the ?bamanation.? Clearly he is trying to scare seniors and anyone else that still falls for his claptrap: the media fed public and uniformed young that are too busy looking for jobs in the ?bama Depression.
    ?
    There’s a liberal born every minute (my apologies to Barnum).



  6. Eric on July 13, 2011 at 7:34 pm

    This clown really chaps my ass! ?He’s a pathological liar with absolutely no core values. Nothing matters but him. ?An egotist of the first order, he really believes that his little world is all that counts. ?I really feel sorry for this guy.?



  7. sammy22 on July 13, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    I confess I am confused. On one hand Bernacke, the Administration and a substantial number of financial and economic experts warn us about the dire consequences of not raising the debt limit, on the other it appears from the above that there is a a $10B “surplus” from 2010 receipts. The Dems and the Reps are playing a giant game of? “chicken” for nothing? My head hurts, it’s time for a couple of aspirins.



  8. ricbee on July 13, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    As Joe Wilson said, he is a bald-faced liar.



  9. TomL on July 14, 2011 at 6:16 am

    They have known for a while it was going to come down to this. When I have a? big expense looming in the future, I try and set aside a little extra leading up to the due date?so I don’t have to push grandma off the cliff. Must be why obama has his death panels, push her off the cliff, no SS payment, no medical payments.



  10. Ellyon on July 14, 2011 at 6:58 am

    ?Who died and left him boss?
    Psalm 15:1 ?A psalm of David. LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?
    2 ?He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
    3 ?and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman,
    4 ?who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,



  11. phil on July 14, 2011 at 7:43 am

    Dims, it’s his nose that’s growing.



  12. Tim-in-Alabama on July 14, 2011 at 9:26 am

    I was unfortunate enough to see a portion of this when it appeared on CBS. This is one of the worst of Bumpy Barack O’Bama’s many horrible performances. I’ll keep my opinion simple so even his supporters can understand – He’s a punk.



  13. SoundOffSister on July 14, 2011 at 10:04 am

    Wait a minute…I thought Social Security had plenty of money in the “Trust Fund”, at least that’s what Reid and Pelosi said.? Could they have been lying to Americans?



  14. sammy22 on July 14, 2011 at 11:52 am

    It’s a cash-flow problem. Even solvent and well run businesses have to borrow to pay for current expenditures. And it’s Congress, not the President who is creating the “crisis”.



  15. TomL on July 14, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    Sammy, solvent well run companies are a good credit risk.? If? a company ran a? $100 billion deficit for 3 years it would find it hard to borrow without streamlining (layoffs) a budget and a business plan to bring it back to liquidity.



  16. TomL on July 14, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    GdavidH, obama not paying seniors or soldiers is dispicable and I wouldn’t put it past him.



  17. GdavidH on July 14, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    TomL, Agreed, as I stated in yesterdays comment. I just happened to run across the Huelskamp press release from another blog. Steve is looking for language that backs up his accusing BHO of lying and I think this makes a pretty good case. Question is…will the Libs admit it?



  18. Steve M on July 14, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    OK. I need to ask those of you who are treating the comments section like a news forum to STOP doing so. Comments section is to post comments about the post. I understand the passion – but no more blind links please.



  19. Lynn on July 15, 2011 at 7:50 am

    He lies. He will look like Dumbo soon.



square-obama-speech

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