I just couldn't resist this one, in light of the bailouts and new debt numbers:
"There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers." ~ Richard Feynman (1918-1988) American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics (1965)
Maggie,
ReplyDeleteThe amazing (and amusing) part of this quote is that one hundred billion would be a truly 'economical' number where government is concerned these days.
Hi Maggie, I assume, to be fair, that you were also amused by this quote while George W. Bush averaged a $500 billion deficit for all eight years of his term in order to finance the war in Iraq and massive tax cuts for the wealthy, right?
ReplyDeleteNick D - you obviously don't know me very well - and you don't know your federal government.
ReplyDeleteI blame Bush for not vetoing multiple spending bills ... but the president doesn't does spend the money - Congress does. Presidents propose budgets, but Congress sets them, passes them and then authorizes the expenditures from them.
I blame EVERYONE for spending votes that are outside the scope of what the Constitution allows and don't make distinctions based upon party affiliation.
Can you say the same - or is Bush to blame for the deficit in spite of the fact that Obama's proposed budget and resulting deficit is so much greater than anything Bush ever signed?
Finally - you need to check your facts. The Bush tax cuts extended to EVERY income bracket - not just the rich/wealthy. And defense is a constitutionally-mandated function for which the government should expend funds. Now - if you want to debate the decision about going into Iraq, that's fine - but do not claim that the spending there is equivalent or even comparable to the Charlie Rangle 'monument to me' or any of the other friviolous, non-constitutional pork projects. And also remember that, as I said above, Congress - including Democrats - authorized all those funds for Iraq.
If you're going to come on my blog and make such statements, you need to be prepared to blame ALL parties responsible - and not try to make government spending a partisan attack on one party or the other.