Agreed. It’s amazing how simple the solution is, as long as the administration and Congress start acting NOW. Hopefully November 2010 will bring many more mature, responsible, and conservative candidates that will govern with every American’s interest in mind and for the benefit of the entire country, not just unions, trial lawyers, leftist organizations, and incompetent and unethical executives and bankers who demand bailouts and preferential treatment based on their relationship with Obama and career politicians.

Chris, I saw where Paul Ryan was proposing that the federal budget be scaled back to what Bush ran in 2007 and keep it at that level for five years. If we could do this, then the budget would be balanced by 2013. Keep in mind that Bush was no skinflint and his budgets were widely –and accurately–derided for being profligate. Yet even so, Bush was a model of restraint compared to this president.

The Socialist government, elected in October on a promise to tax the rich and help the poor, has already announced three sets of austerity measures since revealing last year that the budget deficit had shot up to more than twice previous forecasts. The public sector union ADEDY, which represents half a million workers, called on Friday for a four-hour work stoppage on Tuesday to protest against the belt-tightening, on top of a 24-hour nationwide strike already decided for Wednesday.

[…]

“Today the top priority is the survival of the nation. This is the red line,” Papandreou told parliament, after calls from opposition parties not to make the harsh cuts.

“The economic measures we must take … are necessary for our country’s protection, for our future, for us to be able to stand on our feet.”

Union officials said Greece was asked to slash its deficit by 10 percent of GDP in 2010-2011 by raising VAT tax, scrapping public sector bonuses amounting to two extra months pay, and freezing civil servants’ wages in exchange of getting the aid.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE63T0UR20100430

The unions were proposing bonuses equivalent to 2 months pay, in the middle of a serious recession and a country-wide financial crisis that can lead to total societal collapse? Talk about hypocrisy, selfishness, and greed!

The socialists and communists in Greece care only about themselves and their own finances. Typical of how communists and socialists throughout history have acted. They claim they “care” about the poor, when in fact they care only about themselves!

Obama already has overrun and overshadowed the soaring budget deficits and record debt that Bush ran up while he was cutting taxes, launching two wars and expanding Medicare to cover prescription drugs. Gross federal debt in fiscal 2001, Bush’s first year as president, was $5.7 trillion ; it was $9.9 trillion in fiscal 2008, his last full year. Obama’s budget projects that the gross federal debt will be $16.3 trillion at the end of fiscal 2012, the last full year of his first term.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/3491615

View graph of massive deficits:
http://www.orthodoxnet.com/archives/2010/Deficits_US_2000-2020_01.jpg

Harry,

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.” – Alexander Tytler (but often attributed to de Tocqueville)

In the same way nobody walks past a full picnic table, politicians will emerge who will say whatever a large enough group of people who vote want to hear. If people want ‘more’, politicians will emerge and get elected by promising ‘more’– nevermind whether there really is or isn’t ‘more’ to be had. They’ll borrow from the unborn to give ‘more’ today. They’ll borrow from other countries, anyone. Sooner or later there won’t be more to be had. And when there is ‘no more’ will enough people vote for the same politicians if they can offer only who to blame?