Congressman Walt Minnick: A Good Democrat

Blue Dogs are all that stand between us and financial ruin

I caught Congressman Walt Minnick, Democrat of Idaho, on Lou Dobbs yesterday. He spoke with conviction about how we must reduce the federal deficit and stop borrowing money from China. From his lips to God's ears. Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Florida, is of the same mind. He announced that President Obama's budget would have to be reworked. If we had more Democrats like this, a conservative like me could actually have a choice at the ballot box.

Double the lifestyle, double the debt

Imagine your family takes in, say, $50,000 after taxes but you irresponsibly live a $100,000 lifestyle. To fund it, you borrow $50,000 every year. Take that figure times four and add seven zeros and you've got our federal government.

A traditional way to measure the deficit is to express it as a percentage of GDP. You've got to compare it to something, otherwise, it's merely an incredibly big number just floating out there. The deficits and attendant debt may grow, the big spenders argue, but GDP is growing just as fast, or faster, so our relative debt is not increasing. Republicans used this argument during the Reagan years (this is why I make a terrible party loyalist).

President Obama can't use the percentage argument. His budget would spike the deficit-GDP percentage up to WW II levels, according to the CBO. He would also increase the national debt to GDP percentage to levels higher than during the Bush administration.

This is fiscal madness. President Obama didn't start it, but he had a golden opportunity to end it. Instead, he used that opportunity to satisfy every liberal fantasy of the past 50 years. Republicans, now on the wagon after taking the pledge, are still shaky and seeing snakes. Blue Dog Democrats are all that stand between us and financial ruin.

May God bless those Democrats.

http://minnick.house.gov/index.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/03/23/sen-bill-nelson-on-obama-budget-need-to-rework-this-whole-thing/
http://zfacts.com/p/318.html