Political Quotes

“Actually, this week the President, in his State of the Union Address, made some reference to the seriousness of our financial condition. I think his comments were far too weak, and he insufficiently advised the American people of how serious our condition is. Yesterday, in the Budget Committee, Mr. Elmendorf, who is the CBO Director selected by our Democratic majority in the Congress and whom I think tries his best to do the right thing day after day and give us the right numbers to make our plans upon, told us a lot of things that were very troubling. He was just repeating that the dire predictions and dire assessments they have made previously, which are, if anything, on track and getting worse. They haven't misjudged the numbers and how bad our debt is increasing, but, in fact, if anything, they may have underestimated them. I will just quote one thing in his statement to us yesterday. He talked about analyzing the American debt or how much money we owe as a percentage of the size of our economy--as a percentage of GDP, gross domestic product. That is one way economists like to look at it. He pointed out that the numbers might look a little better, but there are a number of things that are on the table that are likely to occur. I think he is exactly correct about that; if those things occur then the situation realistically is even worse.”