Time to Pivot Away from the Economy Again

Win or lose on the vote to attack Syria, Obama's going to be needing yet another blank check from the American people during the upcoming Sept and Oct showdowns for reauthorization of the gravy train that keeps Obama's fundamental transformation of America going.  The debt will hit the current ceiling of $17T in Oct, but that will no doubt take a back seat to our new war.  Keep in mind the debt (not counting the other $70T we've already pledged in the form of social security, Medicaid/Medicare, etc.) is more than 4 times the approx. $3.5T the government spends in total each year.  Imagine if your credit card were 4x what you spent last year, more like 6x what you earn in a year (based on revenues, not GDP), and you had an additional mortgage for about 25 times your salary.  Reckless government spending was a big deal when Bush was President and it should be a big deal now, too!

About six weeks ago, right after his $100-million dollar visit to Africa, where he pledged $7B in aid for green energy initiatives (which is coincidentally the amount we can't afford for a double-layer fence along our Southern border, based on an average cost of $4M per mile), the President gave a big speech about how he wanted to take the spotlight off the "phoney" IRS and NSA scandals plaguing the White House and instead focus again on the economy.  The push more-or-less fizzled out during his family's annual vacation to Martha's Vineyard.  Now, it's clear the economy will have to wait once more.  And I'll bet that once Syria is decided, they'll want to figure out immigration next.  So, clearly, another couple years of limitless spending seems the most likely result.

The Obama admin's new refrain is that they won't accept any more debt ceiling fights.  Afterall, Congress approved the spending, it's up to them to pay the bills.  See, the new entitlement costs of Obamacare, the endless increases in food stamps and other handouts, and whatever it would cost America to absorb tens of millions of illegal immigrants into this welfare state - none of that is Obama's fault - it's Congress's fault for being stupid enough to go along.  The debt accrued by the Bush tax cuts and the Iraq War were Bush's fault - but the debt accrued by Obama is Congress's fault.  This could have some bearing on why Obama suddenly wanted Congress's authorization before kicking off a new war.