Obama: We Are Out of Money Now (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Barack Obama’s Memorial Day message to Americans:
“SCULLY: You know the numbers, $1.7 trillion debt, a national deficit of $11 trillion. At what point do we run out of money?
OBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we’ve made on health care so far. This is a consequence of the crisis that we’ve seen and in fact our failure to make some good decisions on health care over the last several decades.
So we’ve got a short-term problem, which is we had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system, we had to deal with the auto companies, a huge recession which drains tax revenue at the same time it’s putting more pressure on governments to provide unemployment insurance or make sure that food stamps are available for people who have been laid off.
So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don’t reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can’t get control of the deficit.”
Obama knows his priorities. Now that he’s “fixed” the economy, he’s moving on to healthcare.
UPDATE: Here is C-Span’s transcript of the full interview. I notice Obama again repeated his claim that health care providers have committed to reduce costs by 1.5% a year (page 5):
“And if – one of the very promising areas that we saw was these insurance companies, drug companies, hospitals, all these stakeholders coming together, committing to me that they would reduce costs by 1.5 percent per year.”
Of course, these same providers claim Obama “substantially overstated” their promise to control costs … but the more Obama says this, the more it will become the narrative they can’t escape.
— DRJ
“…which is we had to spend a lot of money to
salvagesavage our financial system…”You’re Welcome, Mr. President…fixed that for you.
AD - RtR/OS! (cc479c) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:27 amGood catch, AD. Thank you.
DRJ (2901e6) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:28 amIt is hard to keep this straight…
He has increased the deficit by at least $1TRILLION over the previous year’s budget deficit in destroying the financial system (and related automobile entities);
He must obligate the Government for untold TRILLIONS more to correct the “unjust” increases in the costs of Health-Care, so that he can “save” Medicare/SocSec, which will ultimately “save” us money;
So that those “savings” can be used to cut the taxes of the vast Middle-Class…
If we survive this, and no further terrorist attacks are successfully mounted against us, we will be extremely fortunate if we are only reduced to a barter society.
AD - RtR/OS! (cc479c) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:38 amThe long term problem is an extra $30 trillion or so that we’ll shortly be paying out to baby booming retirees. But I don’t hear too many on the left or right speaking of this much larger issue. The short term problem that we have is the pantywaist president and congress that we’re temporarily stuck with who are hell bent on destroying/redistributing wealth creation, jobs, and the middle class.
DaveinPhoenix (699f08) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:41 amEar Leader’s primary goal is to “fix” America…..
our new national icon will be the “Gelded Eagle”
redc1c4 (9c4f4a) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:42 am“Well, we are out of money now.”
Which is why I am committed to spending more and more money now and ultimately nationalizing healthcare through this trojan horse approach and the stupid public still seems to believe me when I say I am going to halve the deficit by the end of my first term. Is this a great country or what!!!!
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:49 amwe had to spend a lot of money to salvage our financial system
Amphipolis (42043b) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:49 amso now we have to make a lot of people sick to salvage our health care system
DRJ – Did Scully reverse the debt and deficit numbers in the first quote or did you? Just askin’.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:51 amdaley,
I didn’t change it and I meant to find the C-SPAN transcript to make sure Drudge quoted it correctly. But then I got busy reading something else and neglected to do it. Thanks for the reminder!
DRJ (2901e6) — 5/23/2009 @ 11:55 amMedia types, who can only count column-inches (if that) are always confusing the deficit/debt.
AD - RtR/OS! (cc479c) — 5/23/2009 @ 12:10 pmIt’s not for nothing that Econ 101 is not a pre-req for J-School graduation.
Morons!
Sadly true, AD – RtR/OS! Especially the part about the column-inches — a retrograde concept that carries over to writing for the Web.
Speaking of print and retrograde, in one of my few examinations of the LA Times’ print edition, I saw last week the paper saw fit to put on the front page yet another tiresome diatribe for raising taxes from “business” writer Michael Hiltzik. Of course, gutting Prop. 13 is on his list, as it is with all those who yearn for higher taxes and bigger government.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/23/2009 @ 12:36 pmdaley,
Here’s a link to the C-Span transcript and it is an accurate quote (see page 4). I’ve updated the post to include the link and some other thoughts.
DRJ (2901e6) — 5/23/2009 @ 12:40 pmDidn’t Obama and the democraps derail any attempts to put these programs and social security on sound footing during the last President’s Administration, and now Mr. Obama is using that stonewalling to advance his spendthrift programs. I’d say he was arrogant but some libtard would say that was racist.
eaglewingz08 (e40a12) — 5/23/2009 @ 12:53 pmJust a naive question, but what the…does the healthcare system have to do with the current financial crisis we are in? NADA! And to say we need to fix that so we can move on. Hmmmmm…agenda, anyone?
yourlilsis (9d1ada) — 5/23/2009 @ 1:01 pmComment by Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. — 5/23/2009 @ 12:36 pm
Brother Bradley, it seems that Brother Hiltzek is in dire need of an ’06-colonic, so as to “get his mind straight”.
AD - RtR/OS! (cc479c) — 5/23/2009 @ 1:19 pm1.5% may be the narrative that the health industry can’t escape, but it will likely also be undeliverable. When folks finally realize that O didn’t give up on the happy weed this will just be one more thing they point to.
Soronel Haetir (a3f11b) — 5/23/2009 @ 1:52 pmHow is it that nationalizing healthcare is the solution to the current deficit issues, when healthcare has not one damn thing to do with the ongoing financial issues? That the media allows this nonsensical “logic” from Teh One shows how far in the tank they are.
JD (e66bfa) — 5/23/2009 @ 3:13 pmThe Brits are correct. Obama is out of other people’s money now.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/23/2009 @ 3:20 pm[…] just quadruple the national deficit in one year and expect there not to be any consequences.” Paterico’s Pontifications calls it Barack Obama’s Memorial Day […]
Barack Obama: “We are Out of Money Now” … Barack Obama will go on to say, I Have Not Yet Begun to Spend | Scared Monkeys (1b1833) — 5/23/2009 @ 4:52 pm[…] Patterico has more, plus the usual lively discussion. […]
Gazzer’s Gabfest » My middle name is Nuance, Barry Nuance Obama… (b98ad6) — 5/23/2009 @ 9:53 pmThe premise alone is a glaring falsehood. A nation which is operating under a fiat monetary system does not run out of money, ever. It always has three options available: create more, create less, or make ongoing adjustments that leave the total money supply essentially unchanged.
If there’s no money for healthcare increases, then there how was there money for all the stimuli and bailouts, or for that matter for any deficit spending at any point in time? What has already run out is a fresh supply of buyers of US debt. If you weren’t alive in the late 1970’s, you may get a first hand look at a modern remake of that movie. All who were around then might do well to recall what it took to survive, or better yet, thrive. Not a few fortunes were made, even as the economy retreated and interest rates rocketed. I couldn’t get a construction loan even at 21% in 1981. I had a regular passbook savings account at a thrift bank paying out at 14.5%.
The pieces sure are falling into place again. Many new circumstances geopolitically, but so many market conditions are eerily similar from a trading/investing perspective.
allan (febdc3) — 5/23/2009 @ 10:59 pmWe are out of money, therefore we must nationalize the healthcare industry. Makes perfect sense.
JD (7cda0f) — 5/24/2009 @ 8:59 amOBAMA: Well, we are out of money now. We are operating in deep deficits, not caused by any decisions we’ve made on health care so far.
Oh, yes, uh-huh. Those deep deficits have been caused by all the other decisions you’ve made since January 2009.
Thanks for your candor and awareness, Mr. President.
another tiresome diatribe for raising taxes from “business” writer Michael Hiltzik. Of course, gutting Prop. 13 is on his list, as it is with all those who yearn for higher taxes and bigger government.
And I notice that he and others with a similar mindset truly dislike, and always mention a need to eliminate, the requirement that the state legislature reach a two-thirds-majority vote in order to pass any budget.
Mark (411533) — 5/24/2009 @ 11:09 am[…] An exploration of how our rights and freedoms are in jeopardy 09.12.2009 Would you Want Health Care from the Post Office? The President admits the Post Office is in trouble, Medicare is in trouble, Medicade is in trouble. Heck Obama told us on May 23, 2009 that “We are out of money now” […]
Would you Want Health Care from the Post Office? : Liberty! (5129ca) — 9/12/2009 @ 3:42 am