“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

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

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

Earlier this week, the Obama administration revised its own budget estimates and raised the projected deficit for this year to a record $1.84 trillion, up 5 percent from the February estimate. The revision for the 2010 fiscal year estimated the deficit at $1.26 trillion, up 7.4 percent from the February figure. The White House Office of Management and Budget also projected next year’s budget will end up at $3.59 trillion, compared with the $3.55 trillion it estimated previously.

Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.

Entitlement Programs

In his New Mexico appearance, the president pledged to work with Congress to shore up entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. He also said he was confident that the House and Senate would pass health-care overhaul bills by August.

“Most of what is driving us into debt is health care, so we have to drive down costs,” he said.

Obama prodded Congress to pass restrictions on credit-card issuers, saying consumers need “strong and reliable” protection from unfair practices and hidden fees.

“It’s time for reform that’s built on transparency, accountability, and mutual responsibility, values fundamental to the new foundation we seek to build for our economy,” the president said.

Obama called on Congress to send to him by May 25 a bill that would clamp down on what he says are sudden rate increases, unfair penalties and hidden fees. He also wants the measure to strengthen monitoring of credit-card companies.

House Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the credit-card bill last month after adding a provision requiring banks to apply consumers’ payments to balances with the highest interest rates first. The bill also imposes limits on card interest rates and fees.

The Senate continued debating its version of the bill today. It would require credit-card companies to give 45 days’ notice before increasing an interest rate. It would prohibit retroactive rate increases on existing balances unless a consumer was 60 days late with a payment.

The president said Americans have been hooked on their credit cards and share some blame for the current system. “We have been complicit in these problems,” he said. “We have to change how we operate. These practices have only grown worse in the midst of this recession.”

The American Bankers Association, which represents card issuers, has warned lawmakers and the Obama administration against taking punitive action or setting requirements that are too stringent. Doing so, the lobby group says, would limit consumer credit and worsen a credit crunch.

Obama said that restrictions “shouldn’t diminish consumers’ access to credit.”

Uncollectible Debt

Uncollectible credit-card debt rose to 8.82 percent in February, the most in the 20 years that Moody’s Investors Service Inc. has kept records. Lawmakers have said they’re under increasing pressure from constituents to respond to rising interest rates and abrupt changes to consumers’ accounts.

Obama held a White House meeting last month with executives from the credit-card industry, including representatives from Bank of America Corp. and American Express Co. Afterward, he told reporters that credit-card issuers should be prohibited from imposing “unfair” rate increases on consumers and should offer the public credit terms that are easier to understand.

“The days of any time, any increase, anything goes -- rate hike, late fees -- that must end,” Obama said today at Rio Rancho High School. We’re going to require clarity and transparency from now on.”

He also said the steps he has taken to stimulate the economy and start the debate on overhauling the health-care system are beginning to take effect.

‘Beginning to Turn’

“We’ve got a long way to go before we put this recession behind us,” Obama said. “But we do know that the gears of our economy, our economic engine, are slowly beginning to turn.”

Taking questions from the audience, Obama repeated his stance that he wants legislation to overhaul the health-care system finished before the end of the year, saying it is vital to the economy.

Health-care costs are driving up the nation’s debt and burdening entitlement programs such as Medicare, the government- run insurance program for those 65 and older and the disabled.

The programs’ trustees reported May 13 that the Social Security trust fund will run out of assets in 2037, four years sooner than forecast, and Medicare’s hospital fund will run dry by 2017, two years earlier than predicted a year ago.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...refer=worldwide

[Peikko 1,575]

You posted it, but is this truth of Obamafiction?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

You posted it, but is this truth of Obamafiction?

Definition, please.

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, it helps if I put or instead of of and I just merged Obama and fiction

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Well, it helps if I put or instead of of and I just merged Obama and fiction

The truth is there is a whole lotta scrambling going on to keep the economy from doing what it wants to do anyways. Think of a plane that is running out of fuel, and you can't see any place with a smooth landing yet, so you are left with two choices: Conserve fuel and pick a hopeful direction, making the best landing you can, or gain altitude, hoping the crash will kill you quickly, since you forgot to pack a parachute. Evidently, the current administration and Congress has opted for option two.

[alienlovechild 75]

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

So it was Obama's evil twin that spent trillions and created a record-setting deficit.

And people thought that it absurd that Bristol Palin preach abstinence after getting pregnant herself. Now Obama is talking sense after his spending spree. He's raped the economy and put on a condom later- thanks, Barack.

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, it helps if I put or instead of of and I just merged Obama and fiction

The truth is there is a whole lotta scrambling going on to keep the economy from doing what it wants to do anyways. Think of a plane that is running out of fuel, and you can't see any place with a smooth landing yet, so you are left with two choices: Conserve fuel and pick a hopeful direction, making the best landing you can, or gain altitude, hoping the crash will kill you quickly, since you forgot to pack a parachute. Evidently, the current administration and Congress has opted for option two.

Thanks Bill for your opinion. Actually, I heard a fascinating fictionalisation of how this mess might have come about involving a lot of goats being squashed on a Somali airport runway, the Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble (if anyone is interested).

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Well, it helps if I put or instead of of and I just merged Obama and fiction

The truth is there is a whole lotta scrambling going on to keep the economy from doing what it wants to do anyways. Think of a plane that is running out of fuel, and you can't see any place with a smooth landing yet, so you are left with two choices: Conserve fuel and pick a hopeful direction, making the best landing you can, or gain altitude, hoping the crash will kill you quickly, since you forgot to pack a parachute. Evidently, the current administration and Congress has opted for option two.

Thanks Bill for your opinion. Actually, I heard a fascinating fictionalisation of how this mess might have come about involving a lot of goats being squashed on a Somali airport runway, the Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble (if anyone is interested).

Oh. do tell!

[mawilson 2,133]

So it was Obama's evil twin that spent trillions and created a record-setting deficit.

In all fairness...

Bush presided over a $2.5 trillion increase in the public debt from 2001 through 2008.

Obama's deficit now stands at a record $1.8 trillion - just for 2010!!!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

So it was Obama's evil twin that spent trillions and created a record-setting deficit.

In all fairness...

Bush presided over a $2.5 trillion increase in the public debt from 2001 through 2008.

Obama's deficit now stands at a record $1.8 trillion - just for 2010!!!

The truth hurts.

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, it helps if I put or instead of of and I just merged Obama and fiction

The truth is there is a whole lotta scrambling going on to keep the economy from doing what it wants to do anyways. Think of a plane that is running out of fuel, and you can't see any place with a smooth landing yet, so you are left with two choices: Conserve fuel and pick a hopeful direction, making the best landing you can, or gain altitude, hoping the crash will kill you quickly, since you forgot to pack a parachute. Evidently, the current administration and Congress has opted for option two.

Thanks Bill for your opinion. Actually, I heard a fascinating fictionalisation of how this mess might have come about involving a lot of goats being squashed on a Somali airport runway, the Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble (if anyone is interested).

Oh. do tell!

Don't try this at work!

The top link, the iplayers are a bit funny on wireless networks, but it should work ok

Link

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Well, it helps if I put or instead of of and I just merged Obama and fiction

The truth is there is a whole lotta scrambling going on to keep the economy from doing what it wants to do anyways. Think of a plane that is running out of fuel, and you can't see any place with a smooth landing yet, so you are left with two choices: Conserve fuel and pick a hopeful direction, making the best landing you can, or gain altitude, hoping the crash will kill you quickly, since you forgot to pack a parachute. Evidently, the current administration and Congress has opted for option two.

Thanks Bill for your opinion. Actually, I heard a fascinating fictionalisation of how this mess might have come about involving a lot of goats being squashed on a Somali airport runway, the Great Hargeisa Goat Bubble (if anyone is interested).

Oh. do tell!

Don't try this at work!

The top link, the iplayers are a bit funny on wireless networks, but it should work ok

Link

Thanks, but my attention span is too short to sit through a 45 minute radio play, but I did ask, didn't I?

[sj5 4]

Bush fault makes Obama to spend more.

[Ban Hammer 13,400]

So it was Obama's evil twin that spent trillions and created a record-setting deficit.

In all fairness...

Bush presided over a $2.5 trillion increase in the public debt from 2001 through 2008.

Obama's deficit now stands at a record $1.8 trillion - just for 2010!!!

there's some change

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

So it was Obama's evil twin that spent trillions and created a record-setting deficit.

In all fairness...

Bush presided over a $2.5 5+ trillion increase in the public debt from 2001 through 2008.

Obama's deficit now stands at a record $1.8 trillion - just for 2010!!!

fixxored