Jealous

Incredible chart (4.00 / 1)

Who created it? I can't quite make it out at the bottom.

Zandra Rice Hawkins (Granite State Progress)

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by: Zandra Rice Hawkins @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 08:41:56 AM CST

I think it says "Department of the Treasury" n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: hannah @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 09:11:53 AM CST

[ Parent ]

It doesn't say, but the source is the tiny text at the bottom. (0.00 / 0)

Someone posted the same thing on facebook in slightly higher resolution, and the little text at the bottom says "(Based on data from the Bureau of the Public Debt, United States Department of the Treasury)".

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 12:55:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Preconceived notions. They believe what they want to (0.00 / 0)

believe.  It's a faith-based existence.  There's nothing to question and nothing to worry about.

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by: hannah @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 09:10:41 AM CST

They just have better branding. (4.00 / 1)

Just like how so many people go to dunk'n donuts for coffee when its so lousy.

Your always gonna get that weak, watered down 'flavor'.

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by: Nicholas Gunn @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 09:21:51 AM CST

Hey! (0.00 / 0)

Ah ... you're right. I'm just used to it.

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by: JimC @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 16:44:20 PM CST

[ Parent ]

If I'm reading this correctly, (4.00 / 1)

President Bush and the Republican Congress added as much to the debt in each '03, '04, '05, and '06 as did all Presidents and Congresses combined between 1776 and 1974.

Obviously, that doesn't take into account inflation or the debt as a percentage of GDP, but it should be pointed out the next time Judd Gregg offers his "1776 amendment".

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 13:00:18 PM CST

branding (0.00 / 0)

Simplicity is always easier to sell, even if it's wrong. Democrats shouldn't get defensive about being called "tax and spend;" that's the order you're SUPPOSED to fund government in. Dems should work on our sound bites though, since they are part of the modern play book.

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by: Sage Thrasher @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 13:58:11 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I'll take tax and spend over borrow and waste any time. (4.00 / 3)

--
"Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you." -Aaron Sorkin

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 14:44:34 PM CST

[ Parent ]

When Joe Biden (0.00 / 0)

was campaigning he used to drop a statistic about how under Clinton the size of the federal workforce was the smallest it had been since the Kennedy administration.

The Democratic party has a better historical record of fiscal responsibility and small government.

I'm a little bit worried that the dominant political consensus in the government today was formed in the Bush administration. I haven't really see any new thinking come out of the government.

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 14:48:21 PM CST

What do you want to see rethought? n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: JimC @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 16:43:39 PM CST

[ Parent ]

More and more deficit spending (4.00 / 1)

with weaker and weaker dollars and talking out of two sides of the same mouth about it has been bothering me since about 2003 or 2004. The government as debtor doesn't seem to follow the same recommendations it gives to other countries when it's the creditor.

Also, U.S. foreign policy continues to be a joke directed by amateurs. There's more concern about a nuclear Iran than promoting Iran as a partner in neighboring Afghanistan; the situation there, which, as Joe Biden suggested a long time ago in his campaign, creates a bigger and more immediate threat with the other neighbor: already nuclear Pakistan.

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 20:22:39 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Further, this (0.00 / 0)

giving ambassadorships to high donors is just ridiculous...

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 20:25:55 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Bender & Binnie both (0.00 / 0)

I have some trouble keeping Jim Bender and Bill Binnie straight in my brain.  (I can keep them straight only because Binnie is the one from Rye who owns an auto racing team and Bender is the other guy.  I happen to live near Rye and I am a racing fan.)

Bender & Binnie both say that they are qualified to be Senators because they are businesspeople, not politicians.  They supposedly know how to get things done and how to bring people together.  The only problem is that the Senate is an institution designed to keep things from getting done, and it doesn't place a high premium on bringing people together.  If these guys want to bring people together and get things done, they might want to run for a different office.  Even the US House would be better for someone who wants to hold political office even though he or she is a businessman and not a politician.

There are some businesspeople who have found success in the Senate, but most of them had previous political experience.  (Maria Cantwell, D-WA, for example, was a state and US rep before she made her fortune with RealSystems.)

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 20:24:56 PM CST

On the other hand, (0.00 / 0)

we have the option of lawyers--prosecutors, for the most part--to be elected to a body where lawyers are already overrepresented. The Senate would benefit from a greater diversity of voices, and people who are accessible to their constituents. Binnie's getting attacked on the right for making campaign contributions to some Democrats, which shows he's more of a regular, rational, normal kind of guy that prefers a good outcome than just another political animal.

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by: Alex Gallichon @ Sun Nov 22, 2009 at 20:32:48 PM CST

[ Parent ]