Living Within Our Means

I guess that Dry Bones has said it best.  It is not the fault of the TEA Party.  Nor of Congress, the Banks, Standard & Poor, the Republicans or even the Hobbits.  This Down Grade of our credit rating is squarely on the back of Sheik Barack Hussein Obama.  King of the Porkulus, Sultan of the Stimulus, Prince of Unbridled Spending.

What Made Standard & Poor to down grade the US.  Here are their own words:

We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process. We also believe that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration agreed to this week falls short of the amount that we believe is necessary to stabilize the general government debt burden by the middle of the decade.

Our lowering of the rating was prompted by our view on the rising public debt burden and our perception of greater policymaking uncertainty, consistent with our criteria. Nevertheless, we view the U.S. federal government's other economic, external, and monetary credit attributes, which form the basis for the sovereign rating, as broadly unchanged.

Source

In other words, you spend too much, you are continuing to spend beyond your means (revenue) and we don't see you cutting your spending and raising more revenue.

For a private citizen he or she would be in bad shape, facing eviction, facing a credit score of less than 500, facing bankruptcy.  While we haven't stooped to the bankruptcy level yet, we are in bad shape and need to work to increase revenue and lower costs.  In simpler terms we need to clean up the tax code so companies like General Electric (Who earned billions last year.) will actually pay taxes instead of paying no taxes.  We need to make an easier environment for small and medium sized businesses to thrive.  Too many regulations will drive them under or out of the country.  Taking the jobs so desperately needed with them.  We need to cut spending.  We can start with the Pork, the special interest bills that bring a project (usually worth millions of dollars and bringing only short term jobs and benefits.), go on to those idiotic "science" projects (Like the one which put shrimp on a treadmill.), cut out foreign aid to countries that either are able to afford to pay for their projects (China) or just give us lip service and are even openly hostile to us (Pakistan).  And we need to totally overhaul the Welfare and Food Stamp Programs.  Other than those souls who are unable to work due to physical or mental disability, there is no reason any other citizen not to work for their money.  In fact if we removed all immigrants (legal and illegal) from the program we just might be able to save it.  That alone would be a cost reducing measure.

It is time that Sheik Barack Hussein Obama stand up like a man and take the responsibility for this economic disaster.