GOP should blame itself for deficit, not Democrats

Steve Metz, Henderson

Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

An Associated Press story last week claimed that the deficit is now about $40,000 for every man, woman and child in America.

If we take a look at real facts instead of Obama-bashing innuendo, President George W. Bush was left with a surplus of $127 billion when he went into office. Bush spent us into huge deficits with two nonbudgeted, unpaid-for wars and overpriced no-bid contracts to companies like Halliburton and Blackwater.

Then there was the unfunded prescription drug plan, an unfunded No Child Left Behind Act, an unfunded bank bailout bill of $700 billion, all under Bush, leaving President Barack Obama on his first day in office with a deficit of $1.3 trillion. And then there was a banking system about to collapse worldwide because of a lack of checks and balances on banks and Wall Street firms.

If we take a look at what percentage of that $40,000 can be laid at the hands of Republicans under Bush, I guarantee the vast majority, if not most, would be the Republicans’ bill left to all Americans. It seems Republicans would like to forget it was their own mishandling of our budget, and now they blame everyone except themselves.

And to now add insult to injury, Republicans are again becoming the darlings of the banks and Wall Street, through their industry lobbyists and political donations, by trying to stop Obama from implementing common-sense legislation that would protect all of us from these industries and from politicians doing it to us again. It’s time to put the blame where it belongs.