Skip to content


Obama on Unsustainable Debt

05/15/09 Baltimore, Maryland Could this be… an epiphany?

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” President Obama declared at a town hall meeting in New Mexico yesterday. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Bravo, Mr. President.

Obama continued on the matter, calling our current deficit spending “unsustainable” and suggesting that sooner or later the routine buyers of U.S. debt will “get tired” of tossing their reserves in our money hole.


In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

So what will result from this fiscal catharsis? Budget reform? A national effort to pay off our debts? The end of borrowing, bailouts and trade deficits — the beginning of a sustainable existence?

“What is driving us into debt is health care, so we have to drive down costs.”

Bummer… all just a pitch for health care reform. Well, it’s a start, sort of.

And as Mr. Obama preached fiscal conservatism, his administration wrote the U.S. insurance industry a $22 billion check. Allstate, Prudential, Ameriprise, Hartford Financial, Lincoln National and Principal Financial will now all have access to TARP funding, the Treasury announced today.

In exchange for the bailout, the government will get a boatload of warrants and preferred shares, further complicating Uncle Sam’s quasi-ownership of the financial sector.

Author Image for Ian Mathias

Ian Mathias

Ian Mathias is managing editor of The 5 Min. Forecast.  We discovered Ian working as a full time rock climbing guide and writing on the side. As it turns out, markets and global economics can be extreme too… at least enough to keep him around. Since working for Agora Financial, respected media outlets including Forbes.com, the Associated Press, Yahoo, and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. He received his BA from Loyola College in Maryland and is currently studying writing at the graduate level.

Special Report: From Hulbert’s No 1-Ranked Advisory Letter Over 5 Years, GOLD $2000 REPORT : Five entirely new ways to play the gold trend and a hidden way to snap up gold- for less than one penny per ounce!

The articles and commentary featured on the Daily Reckoning are presented by Agora Financial. Additional market commentary is available through The 5Min Forecast .

Sign Up for The Daily Reckoning e-letter and receive a copy of Bill Bonner's The Trade of The Decade report… at NO CHARGE.

  

We Will Not Share Your Email.
We Value Your Privacy.

Related Articles:


2 Responses

  1. Wha The said

    Wow, another piece of history that not only brings to light about the matter, but also proves that President Obama is either a complete hypocrate or an absolute liar.

    You decide. I’ve already chosen.

    on May 18, 2009.
  2. Ed Gonzo said

    Obama is a puppet of the powers that be.

    Every president has been, for that matter. The puppet that doesn’t play along gets a mandatory meeting scheduled with JFK, wherever he is. JFK was but a puppet who got out of control, and thus required extreme mesures.

    The owners of the world are apolitical; they shift to reds or blues, according to the tide. They just want to be in the white house.

    The “Maverick” and that pathetic Palin chick were hand-picked to lose.

    She is mildly hot, though. I give her that.

    on May 29, 2009.

Some HTML is OK

(never shared)

or, reply to this post via trackback. Our Comment Policy.