By Bill O'Reilly
With a number of European countries on the verge of bankruptcy, which is badly damaging the worldwide economy, attention is now shifting to the USA because bankruptcy could be looming here as well. Please listen closely to these statistics.
In 2007, during the Bush administration, federal deficit spending was $161 billion, despite the Iraq and Afghan wars. Four years later under President Obama the deficit spending is $1.3 trillion, eight times as much.
To be fair, the economy collapsed on Bush's watch, and both Republicans and Democrats committed almost a trillion dollars to prop up the economy. As we all know, the stimulus spending did not work very well.
But the Obama administration has not cut back. Today the feds are spending $9.8 billion every day. That breaks down to $410 million per hour. Tax revenue has actually gone up. It's 21 percent higher this year than last, but there's no way Americans can bring down the federal debt with their tax dollars. The spending is just too massive.
Now you would think President Obama, for his own political survival, would support drastic cuts in federal spending, but he does not, and neither does the Democratic Party in general. In fact, the far-left loons want to spend more, believing against all evidence that it will get us out of the stubborn recession. So if the Republicans are smart -- a big if -- they will simply run a campaign on economics.
There is no question that the Obama administration has embraced out-of-control spending. That is not debatable. And if the deficit spending doesn't stop, the USA will become like Greece, insolvent and chaotic.
Sadly, many Americans simply do not want to pay attention to what's happening in Washington. They want to pursue their lives without embracing reality. They believe what they hear, and often times they don't hear anything other than their own point of view.
Well "Talking Points" is playing Paul Revere. Bankruptcy is coming, and the Democrats are not considering that reality. The tax the rich mantra is a delusion. There are not enough rich people in the country to even put a dent in the federal debt. Government spending should revert back to the year 2007 when we had a manageable deficit. That was just four years ago, and most of us were living well then.
Whoever the Republican challenger is must make it as simple as that.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
As you may know, 84-year-old Harry Belafonte is a very passionate far-left guy. He has a new book out, so he's been making the media rounds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Harry Belafonte joining us live this morning from New York. Hey, good morning, Harry. Harry, wake up. Harry? Wake up, wake up. This is your wake-up call, Harry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I'll tell you what. We are going -- he's meditating. He's taking a little nap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Again, Mr. Belafonte is 84. I am not going to call him a pinhead. His spokesman says there was a technical glitch and Harry couldn't hear.
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