Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Image by Truthout.org via Flickr
Just in case you haven’t yet today scratched your head in amazement at just how ignorant leftists are and how desperately they fail when pressed to defend their lies, this gem should do the trick.
During a recent press conference on the debt ceiling, Barack Obama shamefully preyed on Americans fears and intentionally deceived them by threatening that he could not guarantee that Social Security checks would go out August 3rd if Congress does not cave on his demand to increase the nations debt limit.
By threatening this, Obama unwittingly exposed the leftist deception that Social Security is well-funded by money in the bank, if you will. Hmmm, if there exist this cash rich account or trust fund, as leftists would have Americans believe, then simply pay recipients August 3rd from that account. Of course, they cannot do this because such a cash rich account or trust fund simply does not exist.
Whoops, shouldn’t have let that cat out of the bag, Barack.
The reality: Social Security benefits are paid out every month from currently incoming revenues, not from some well-funded account that simply does not exist. At some point several years down the road, the monthly outflow to recipients will exceed the incoming revenues, but not yet.
Right now, even if Congress truly represents the will of the people and rejects Obama’s demands for more money to burn, this will have zero effect on Obama’s ability to pay out Social Security benefits on August 3rd. Should there be no debt limit increase and if checks are not mailed to recipients on August 3rd, this will only be because Obama has chosen to punish recipients he views as pawns, not because the revenues these benefits are paid out from are not coming in as usual.
As usual, the “news” media miss the boat on this as nearly every other newsworthy issue, but not Don and Roma of WLS 890 AM’s radio program, the “Don Wade and Roma Show”. You can observe on the audio/video below as they lay waste to the hopelessly failed efforts of leftist Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky to defend any of this leftists nonsense.
Let me see if I got this straight: If we don’t pass the bill we will not get our Social Security checks. Yet, Social Security is solvent and in a locked box. So, if we do not get our Social Security checks, it is because the administration has made a decision to not write the checks and blame it on the Republicans–especially those mean Tea Party Republicans. So who makes the decision? The President. Who gets blamed? The Republicans. Hmmm. Sounds like politics as usual. There is no promised change in how things are done in Washington D. C..
Stated well, John. Looks as though you nailed the issue, “politics as usual”.
Well, I have a hard time believing that SS is indeed solvent, It hasn’t been since the 1960′s when the Congress moved it from one part of the budget to the general fund so they could SPEND MORE MONEY…The Congress has been dominated by progressives(democrats and GOP progressives) since the 1950′s. They have put us on this road and NOW we are paying the price for it…with no end in sight, with no fiscal responsible people in Congress…http://www.cnsnews.com/node/62793
No Democrat-Controlled Congress Has Balanced Federal Budget in 40 Years; No Republican President Has Balanced Federal Budget in 50 Years
No Congress in which the Democrats controlled both the House and Senate has balanced the federal budget since fiscal 1969–more than 40 years ago.
Monday, March 15, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey
Nancy Pelosi health care
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
(CNSNews.com) – Many leading Democrats in Washington these days like to point to the fact that the federal budget was balanced for part of the time that President Bill Clinton was in office. What they do not mention is that those balanced budgets occurred only when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress.
In fact, according to the historical data published by the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama White House, no Congress in which the Democrats controlled both the House and Senate has balanced the federal budget since fiscal 1969–more than 40 years ago.
The federal appropriations made for that fiscal year—which began on July 1, 1968 and ended on June 30, 1969–were approved by a Democrat-controlled Congress elected in 1966. They were signed by lame-duck Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, who had decided not to run for reelection in 1968. (Until 1977, the federal fiscal year began on July 1 and ended on June 30. Since 1977, it has begun on Oct. 1 and ended on Sept. 30. Federal fiscal years are numbered by the calendar year in which they end.)
President Eisenhower in 1960 was the last Republican president to preside over a balanced budget. A Democrat-controlled Congress elected in 1958 approved the appropriations for that fiscal year in 1959.
More recently, the federal budget was balanced in fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. A Republican-controlled Congress approved the appropriations for each one of those years and Democratic President Bill Clinton signed them. In fiscal years 1994 and 1995, when President Clinton governed with a Democrat-controlled Congress, the federal government ran deficits of $203.2 billion and $163.9 billion respectively.
The Republican majority Congress elected in November 1994 presided over two fiscal years with declining deficits—fiscal 1996 and 1997—before it initially balanced the budget in fiscal 1998. In fiscal 1996 and 1997, the deficits were $107.4 billion and $21.9 billion respectively.
In the 2000 election, Republicans retained control of the House but the Senate split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats. In May 2001, Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont switched parties from Republican to Independent and began caucusing with the Democrats, giving the Democrats the effective majority and making then-Sen. Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) the majority leader.
That split Congress was responsible for the appropriations for fiscal 2002, which put the federal government back into a deficit. After Republicans regained control of the Senate in the November 2002 elections (thus taking control of the budget process for fiscal 2004 which would begin on Oct. 1, 2003), the all-Republican Congress continued running deficits for four fiscal years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007). During that time, with President George W. Bush in the White House, the Republicans controlled both the legislative and executive branches but failed to balance the budget.
In the November 2006 elections, Democrats won back the majority in both the House and Senate, and in the three fiscal years that have started since then (2008, 2009, 2010), they have run record deficits of $458.6 billion, $1.41 trillion and $1.55 trillion.
The estimated deficit for this fiscal year (2010) of $1.55 trillion is more than three times as large as the $458.6 billion deficit that President George W. Bush presided over with a Democratic Congress in fiscal 2008. In fiscal 2010, of course, Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress as well as the White House.
Since 1960, the federal budget has been balanced in only 6 fiscal years. For two of those fiscal years—1960 and 1969—Democrats controlled Congress. For four—1998, 1999, 2000, 2001—Republicans controlled Congress.WHO BALANCED THE BUDGET?
The chart below lists the fiscal years since 1960, the president who was in office when that fiscal year began, the political party that controlled Congress when that fiscal year began, whether the federal budget was balanced in that fiscal year, and the amount of the federal surplus or deficit in that fiscal year. The figures for federal deficits and surpluses come from the “Historical Tables—Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal 2011,” published by the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama White House.
Control of Congress Budget Balanced? Deficit/Surplus
President Dwight Eisnehower (Left office Jan. 20, 1961)
1960 Democrat YES $301 million
1961 Democrat No –$3.3 billion
President John F. Kennedy (Assassinated Nov. 22, 1963)
1962 Democrat No –$7.1 billion
1963 Democrat No –$4.8 billion
1964 Democrat No –$5.9 billion
President Lyndon B. Johnson (Left office Jan. 20, 1969)
1965 Democrat No –$1.4 billion
1966 Democrat No –$3.7 billion
1967 Democrat No –$8.6 billion
1968 Democrat No –$25.2 billion
1969 Democrat YES $3.2 billion
President Richard M. Nixon (Resigned Aug. 9, 1974)
1970 Democrat No –$2.8 billion
1971 Democrat No –$23.0 billion
1972 Democrat No –$23.4 billion
1973 Democrat No –$14.9 billion
1974 Democrat No –$6.1 billion
1975 Democrat No –$53.2 billion
President Gerald Ford (Left office Jan. 20, 1977)
1976 Democrat No –$73.7 billion
1977 Democrat No –$53.7 billion
President Jimmy Carter (Left office Jan. 20, 1981)
1978 Democrat No –$59.1 billion
1979 Democrat No –$40.7 billion
1980 Democrat No –$73.8 billion
1981 Democrat No –$78.9 billion
President Ronald W. Reagan (Left office Jan. 20, 1989)
1982 Split No –$127.9 billion
1983 Split No –$207.8 billion
1984 Split No –$185.3 billion
1985 Split No –$212.3 billion
1986 Split No –$221.2 billion
1987 Split No –$149.7 billion
1988 Democrat No –$155.1 billion
1989 Democrat No –$152.6 billion
President George H.W. Bush (Left office Jan. 20, 1993)
1990 Democrat No –$221.0 billion
1991 Democrat No –$269.2 billion
1992 Democrat No –$290.3 billion
1993 Democrat No –$255.0 billion
President William J. Clinton (Left office Jan. 20, 2001)
1994 Democrat No –$203.2 billion
1995 Democrat No –$163.9 billion
1996 Republican No –$107.4 billion
1997 Republican No –$21.9 billion
1998 Republican YES $69.2 billion
1999 Republican YES $125.6 billion
2000 Republican YES $236.2 billion
2001 Republican YES $128.2 billion
President George W. Bush (Left office Jan. 20, 2009)
2002 Split No –$157.8 billion
2003 Split No –$377.6 billion
2004 Republican No –$412.7 billion
2005 Republican No –$318.3 billion
2006 Republican No –$248.2 billion
2007 Democrat No –$160.7 billion
2008 Democrat No –$458.6 billion
2009 Democrat No –$1.41 trillion
President Barack Obama
2010 Democrat No –$1.55 trillion
Unbelievable, but true. Strange how fact-based evidence such as this does not favor the proclamations of those in power who endeavor to deceive. Thank you, P-chef.
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