A Mountain of Debt, and Other Thoughts for a Monday

When the The New York Times begins to care enough to write about it, the Obama debt situation must really be getting out of control.    Of course, conservative commentators, including me, have been sounding the alarm bells for a long time (IVM discussed the President's money troubles from its founding back in September).  The Times actually sounds like it is concerned today when it notes that an increase in interest rates above the current unheard-of levels will cause Federal debt service payments to skyrocket:

Even a small increase in interest rates has a big impact. An increase of one percentage point in the Treasury’s average cost of borrowing would cost American taxpayers an extra $80 billion this year — about equal to the combined budgets of the Department of Energy and the Department of Education.

But that could seem like a relatively modest pinch. Alan Levenson, chief economist at T. Rowe Price, estimated that the Treasury’s tab for debt service this year would have been $221 billion higher if it had faced the same interest rates as it did last year.

The national debt now tops $12 Trillion.  Increased debt service payments will continue to eat away at available Federal dollars unless the size of the United States' economy grows dramatically.

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Yet another recent event highlights an issue of enormous concern to me:  when will the Obama Administration stand up to the Iranians?  I have written a number of times about the President's unilateral decision to withdraw SDI from Poland and the Czech Republic, a decision that has direct implications to the Iranian situation.  And the President has utterly failed to address Iran's nuclear ambitions, a fact that creates security concerns for Israel, Eastern Europe, Iraq and India.  But why would a "progressive" American President ever want to abandon the moral high ground with respect to human rights and fostering democratic governmental institutions?  Yet the President has done exactly that, in a statement issued, of all times, on the 30th anniversary of the Iranian takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran:

I have made it clear that the United States of America wants to move beyond this past, and seeks a relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran based upon mutual interests and mutual respect.  We do not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs.

Beyond the basic fact that this statement was issued on a date commemorated by Iranian's mad mullahs as a great victory by Iran over "The Great Satan", a couple of things jump out at me.  First, the President says in the statement that he seeks a relationship with "the Islamic Republic of Iran."  The "Islamic Republic" is the same government that is now run by the madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who bullied his way to re-election by intimidation and murder.  Why could not the President simply have said that he seeks a relationship with the people--the ordinary citizens--of Iran?  And second, while the President was reaching out to a government run by institutional terrorists, the streets of Tehran were filled with thousands of protesters who risked their very lives to challenge the government of the "Islamic Republic."  Yet the President offered not one single word of encouragement to those brave souls.  Instead, he made it clear that Ahmadinejad should feel free to continue to beat, torture, imprison and kill his domestic challengers because the United States will "not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs."  How can the United States assert any sort of moral superiority when our leader refuses to utter a word of support for those who only want to enjoy the same rights of free speech, free assembly and free association that we enjoy here?

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Ah, the liberal dream that is socialized medicine appears to be dying on the vine of many branches that is the Democratic Party.  To please "progressives" in the Party, any plan must provide coverage for abortion and must include a government-run option.  To the so-called "Blue Dogs" of the Party, the public option is a non-starter, and the final version must show some fiscal restraint.  And while all of the Democrats want to raise our taxes--Democrats LOVE to raise taxes--the Democrats in the House cannot agree with the Democrats in the Senate over which taxes to raise.  So while Harry Reid was able to muster enough votes to move the bill to floor debate in the Senate, he is a looooooong way from herding the cats of his party into the same pen.

My biggest issue:  the pathological lying by Democrats in both houses of Congress over the actual cost of their health care "reform" proposals.  They continue to trumpet that health care reform will actually reduce the deficit over the next ten years.  And how could a Trillion Dollars in new spending possibly reduce the deficit?  Because the Democrats play a parlor trick with the accounting by counting ten years of revenue against only six years of expenses, thus hiding the true cost of their "reform."

And while the Democrats are wasting all of this time and effort on a "reform" proposal that will either (1) fail; or (2) doom the American people to a massive debt burden for as far as the eyes can see, unemployment is reaching higher and higher and higher.  It truly is hard to believe that a gifted politician like Barack Obama can be so tone-deaf when it comes to the actual concerns of the American people.  As his poll numbers continue to slip, he and the Democratic Party-controlled Congress are doing nothing--NOTHING--about the economy.

Ryan. Williams. Is. Awesome.

I attended the Virginia Tech beatdown of the North Carolina State Wolfpack on Saturday, and I got to witness a lot of spectacular plays: Tyrod Taylor tossing a completion while falling backwards to the ground with three defenders hanging off him; Cody Grimm forcing three fumbles by NC State on their first four plays; and Jarrett Boykin making a beautiful diving catch in the end zone for a 38-yard TD. But nothing could match Ryan Williams' third quarter run where he literally dragged an NC State defender ten yards into the end zone. Williams is the sort of special player who just doesn't come along very often. Almost every time he touches the ball, he makes big things happen. And to think: he is only a Freshman. Alas, he probably will not be around for three more years; the big money of the NFL will call him away. But man, it surely is wonderful to be here to see him while the Hokies have him on the roster.

Election Day +1

Today the airwaves and the Web are filled with opinions about "what it all means."  In general, the opinion you get is based upon where you go to seek it out.  Democrats and lefties?  The elections were "local issues" and did not have anything to do with the Obama agenda or his performance in office to date.  The GOP'ers and conservatives?  The results signal that the Obama agenda is under seige and everything from Cap'n Trade to Obamacare will be laid waste.  I suppose my opinion is as worthy as any of those, so a few thoughts from out of the hills:

• Virginia:  Other than Fairfax County and environs and certain parts of metro Richmond and the Tidewater area, Virginia is now what it has always been:  deeply conservative.  Without Obama at the top of the ticket to excite all of the crazy liberals (or "progressives", as they like to call themselves) and get them out to the polls, the ordinary Virginians who are concerned about high taxes and big government came out in force to vote for their own.  The GOP won from the top to the bottom of the ticket.  The Republican candidates won all three of the statewide offices of Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General, and picked up five seats in the House of Delegates, giving them a 60% to 40% majority.  It was a GOP beatdown of the Democrats.
• New Jersey:  I don't know anything about local New Jersey politics, but I do know that they change governors like they change clothes.  In the past ten years, and including the new governor, Chris Christie, who will take office in January, six different people have held the title of governor in New Jersey.  An additional three people have served as "acting governor."  Five of the nine have been Republicans, and four have been Democrats (I am counting Codey twice; a Democrat, he served as both governor and acting governor).  Jon Corzine, the Democrat who was defeated yesterday by Christie, was formerly the head of Goldman Sachs, which may have made him rich but which doesn't look so great to the average blue collar Democrat.  During his short tenure in office, he utterly failed to do anything about New Jersey's outrageous taxes and bloated government.  He tried to claim the Obama magic by bringing the President on board for campaign appearances, but it didn't work.  At least part of the defeat has to be attributed to Corzine's failures, and part has to be attributed to the national economy, where the public's patience with the President is stretching thin.  Neither the people of New Jersey, nor the American public as a whole, have much patience with a weak economy.
• New York 23:  The lone bright spot for the Democrats, who managed to elect Bill Owens in a district that is as red as red can be.  I do not think that Owen's victory represents any sort of Democratic surge in upstate New York.  The Republican dropped out of the race, and the remaining candidate, Doug Hoffman, who ran under the third party Conservative label, was polling in single digits just three weeks prior to election day before the Republican dropped out.  Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate who had been selected by county executive committee chairmen rather than as the winner of a primary, is more liberal than two-thirds of the current Democrats in the House of Representatives (the New York Times, the Huffington Post and other liberal outlets insisted on calling her a "moderate Republican"; apparently, they think that being pro-abortion, pro-Obamacare and pro-stimulus spending constitutes moderation).  The real reason for the overwhelming joy amongst the liberal set is that Hoffman was endorsed by Sarah Palin, who ranks second only to Dick Cheney as favorite boogeyman of the liberals.  Apparently, they believe that Hoffman's loss represents a rebuke of Palin, which could not be less true.  Palin stepped up to the plate and said what needed to be said:  that Scozzafava does not represent Republican values and interests and should not be supported.  Good for her.  If Hoffman had had enough time and money to mount a real campaign, Owens would not have had a chance.

This election comes as the nation deals with an unemployment rate approaching 10%, tight credit and a Federal budget deficit topping $1 Trillion.  Yet with all of the problems with our economy, the Democrats in Congress have wasted the past 3 months debating which form of a government takeover of the health care industry they should enact.  The American people know that now is not the time (if such a time would ever exist) to increase the size of the Federal government by $1.3 Trillion per year for a total approaching 25% of GDP.  Obamacare has been in trouble for a while now, and with 2010 being an election year, the Democrat's dream of having the government make all of our health care choices for us may well disappear until 2011, at the earliest.  Sometimes, doing nothing at all is a very good thing.

I have enjoyed a couple of belly laughs today at the claims by the "progressives" that yesterday's elections actually showcase a need for Democrats to be, hold on now, more liberal!  The examples of this school of thought may be found all over the Web today, but I particularly enjoyed this one, which claims that Deeds would have won in Virginia if only (if only!) he had wholeheartedly supported Cap'n Trade, Obamacare, the Employee Lack of Free Choice Act and unlimited benefits for illegal immigrants.  Heh, heh.  I hope the Democrats take the advice to heart, because if they do, it will ensure a Republican majority for years to come.