Speaker Tablecloth’s Promise, Nancy Pelosi’s predictions were about as good as her fashion sense, to wit poor, from Fredrickburg.com [1]:
FAMOUS LAST WORDS: “After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending. Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt.”
Thus spake House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her inaugural address on Jan. 4, 2007. And how did Mrs. Speaker do with her vow? Poorly. Abysmally.
The 110th Congress racked up a whopping $1.957 trillion in new debt, according to the U.S. Treasury. Not to be outdone, the 111th Congress exceeded that amount by 65 percent, adding $3.22 trillion in indebtedness.
[2]Speaker Tablecloth’s lie, Mrs Pelosi may have been naive when she assumed the gavel. However she left a liar, from Fox News [3]:
At her final press conference as House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go.”
The numbers tell a different story.
When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the national debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi’s Speakership on December 22, 2010 the national debt was $13,858,529,371,601.09 – a roughly $5.2 trillion increase in just four years. Furthermore, the year over year federal deficit has roughly quadrupled during Pelosi’s four years as speaker, from $342 billion in fiscal year 2007 to an estimated $1.6 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010.
Hat tip: Fausta [4].
‘Rate in deep Dumbo Care poop, from Michael Tanner, RCP [5]:
Given that the latest Rasmussen poll shows that 60 percent of likely voters support repeal, Democrats might have an only slightly harder time convincing the public to pardon Osama bin Laden, and they continue to labor under the delusion that the problem with health-care reform isn’t policy, but public relations. Americans oppose the health-care program because they don’t understand it. Sooner or later, the thinking goes, they will find the magic words that will convince the public of how right the Democrats have been all along.
But given two years of almost continuous debate on the issue, it is far more likely that the public really does understand the bill. They know, for example, that, despite the president’s reassurances, they are not going to be able to keep their current health insurance, even if they like it. They understand that outside experts now predict that Obamacare will cost at least $2.7 trillion over its first ten years of actual operation, not the $950 billion originally predicted, adding more than $350 billion to the deficit over that period, despite massive new taxes.
The more the public finds out what is in Obama Care, the less they like it.