After he pushed and passed the Stimulus Package, Obama began to own the trend on the economy.  It has been almost two years now!  When do we stop blaming the past president for the actions of this one?  Bush did not single handedly get us into this recession and in many ways he took progressive actions similar to President Obama (i.e. TARP was Bush’s version of the Obama Bailouts; a smaller scale but still the same principle)!  So, if you think we should give Obama some credit for trying we should also give Bush some credit for trying.

The American people don’t want to see someone try unless the result is success.  As of now, we cannot honestly say that his results are successful.  Unemployment continues to rise and many economists fear a double dip recession.  Obama is being blamed because he is doing all of the wrong things to fix this economy.  He should look to the actions of former presidents who were in similar predicaments like Reagan and Coolidge.  Both of these men helped the country and moved in a completely opposite direction than what Obama is going now!

I believe the government should be run similarly to the way you (an average American) would run his or her life—On a Budget!  If you’re in the hole, say from student loans, spending more money isn’t going to get those loans paid off any faster.  I know the country’s problems are far greater than that example and we do have people in desperate need of help, but at what point do we stop?  We have to ask ourselves “which of this spending is NECESSARY and what can be ELIMINATED? “  For example, both houses of congress recently passed a bill (which, by the way, is unnamed) to give money to states to basically bail out teachers and help out with Medicare expenses (it may be Medicaid).  Some may say that this is necessary but I say let the States do their job.  Tell them to balance their budgets and find money to pay for the teachers and Medicare/Medicaid.  What are the states supposed to do when the money runs out in a year, ask for more?  When does it stop?  We must begin fiscal responsibility or we will go nowhere! 

Look at Texas as an example.  They rejected the Stimulus money but they were forced to take it so they just didn’t spend it.  Because of this, they balanced their budgets, got their spending under control, and now they are one of the only states in the union that isn’t running a budget deficit.