Obama considering paying off debt, with more debt

I’m quite certain the Obama administration consists of a bunch of fools, and they think you’re a bunch of fools too. Imagine paying off one of your credit cards with another one of your credit cards. Would you think you’ve improved your financial situation? The bozos are considering reducing the deficit with “extra” TARP funds.

Is this the type of fiscal responsibility you expected from President Obama’s administration? Actually, it’s exactly the type of fiscal double-speak that I expected. To be fair, these types of budget accounting gimmicks have been going on for years at the federal and even the state level.

From tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal (tomorrow … isn’t that cool…)

Budget experts said committing some TARP funds toward debt reduction could help calm concerns about the size and intent of the program. “I don’t necessarily want them to pull back in a huge way, because there’s a lot of uncertainty, but right now what we’ve got could turn into a $700 billion slush fund” for Congress, said Douglas Elliott, a fellow with the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank.

The move could buy the Treasury Department time before it hits the so-called debt ceiling, which limits the amount of money the U.S. can borrow. Already, some members of Congress have said they won’t approve an increase in the $12.1 trillion debt cap unless efforts to reduce the deficit are included.

This type of budgeting does not work in business and it certainly does not work with personal finances. The way I look at it, they were planning to spend money they had to borrow (TARP funds), but since they don’t seem to need that money, they are going to use that money to reduce the deficit – money they had to borrow.

The federal government might have a slush fund? I’m ROTFLMAO reading that phrase. They really do think we are idiots!

Is this kind of like planning to buy a Lexus for $30,000, but then buying a Honda for $20,000 even though you can’t even afford the Honda … and then paying off half of the Honda with the $10,000 “extra” you did not spend.

The problem is you’re still $20,000 in debt, and you couldn’t afford the Honda in the first place. What a shell game.

Steve over at Sweetness and Light suggests…

Why doesn’t Mr. Obama just write a check for the total $1.5 trillion and get it over with?

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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.

8 Comments

  1. Dimsdale on November 12, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    It's worse: Obama is paying off his credit cards with OUR credit cards!

     

    TARP and the so called Stimulus Bill were primarily designed to generate confidence in the market and the economy, but the realities of the administration's ineptitude and its resultant, ever increasing unemployment rate have effectively destroyed that effect.  Add to that the fact that Obama's effectively socialist takeovers of every industry and subsequent policies he can get his mits on, and half baked rules and regulations that the administration applies to the now dependent companies and banks, are putting a chill on the economy akin to frostbite.   Even the most Obama worshiping media outlets are starting to realize that this tyro is going to take them down too.

     

    I hope we have enough time to wake up the American people before it is too late.  I really don't want to have to learn Chinese….



  2. gillie28 on November 13, 2009 at 5:57 am

    I respectfully disagree.  Realistically, if they don't pay down the debt, what are they going to do with this money?  Start another entitlement program.  I think paying down the debt with extra tart, er, tarp money is the lesser of two evils. 



    • Steve McGough on November 14, 2009 at 6:31 am

      THE MONEY DOES NOT EXIST! Gillie … come on … the TARP money was borrowed, hence the $1.2-plus trillion debt in one year. There is no slush fund … cash Congress has laying around to pay off the debt. Read my analogies again. Paying off debt with other debt is only something a politician can come up with … you still owe the money…

      There is no money left!



  3. sammy22 on November 14, 2009 at 3:25 am

    gillie28 gets it.



    • Steve McGough on November 14, 2009 at 6:31 am

      You're both way off. Go try that with your mortgage or car loan.



  4. gillie28 on November 14, 2009 at 7:56 am

    Steve, I understand what you're saying.  However, come into fantasy land with me for a moment: the fact that they're considering doing something with money that "doesn't exist," means they intend to do something with this pretend cash.  So, I'd rather they'd pretend to pay down the debt with this monopoly money, than REALLY commit to some other entitlement program.

    Like you said, only the government could come up with this nonsense.



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