Bernanke and Obama: Lies, Damn Lies

I don't like politicians because generally speaking, you might say that it's their job to sell you a dream world, in which there's no more poverty, where everybody gets free healthcare and 80 days of holidays a year while working 15 hours a week and a retiring at the advanced age of 40. And no, I'm not describing Greece and France, but every country on the planet.

Somehow, and sometimes, I try to convince myself that these politicians are dreamers, and that they do not realise that whatever ideas they are suggesting are completely disconnected from the reality of life. So when they change their plans and do nothing but raise taxes and give money to their friends and forget about the policies that got them elected in the first place, I try to see no evil, but simply the fact that they might realised their objectives were unachievable.

But with some of these guys, even doing my best to be candid and gullible doesn't do the trick. Especially with Bernanke and Obama. See for yourself:

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, in a confidential talk with the commission probing the causes of the financial crisis, said he would defend to his “deathbed” his actions prior to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

“I will maintain to my deathbed, that we made every effort to save Lehman, but we were just unable to do so because of a lack of legal authority,” Bernanke said, referring to the 2008 failure that intensified a crisis that Bernanke said was the worst in history, according to an 89-page transcript of the interview by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Well, hello Ben. Since when the fact that something is illegal prevented you from doing it? Where was the legal authority to bail out AIG?  And GE? What about bailing out all these European banks? Where's the legal authority for the alpha-bet soup of lending facilities?

By the way, the Federal Reserve is an unconstitutional institution in the first place. So it's mere existence is illegal to begin with. Which means every single action you are conducting lacks any legal authority...

So please, do not try to convince us that what prevented you from bailing out Lehman was legal authority. I'm guessing their balance sheet was such a mess that even you couldn't afford to hold there toxic assets on the balance sheet of the Fed.

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.7 trillion budget that projects the federal deficit will exceed $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive year in 2012 [...]

The deficit for the current fiscal year is forecast to hit a record $1.6 trillion -- 10.9 percent of gross domestic product -- up from the $1.4 trillion the administration estimated previously. It would be $1.1 trillion in 2012, 7 percent of GDP. By 2015 it would decline to $607 billion, or 3.2 percent of GDP.
[...]
“The only way we can make these investments in the future is if our government starts living within our means,” Obama said

Well, hello Barack. How can you submit yet another budget with a $1 trillion deficit (is this the 2nd or 3rd time you are submitting a budget with such a deficit?) and then expect us to believe that "our government starts living within our means"?  Even a teenager can understand the basic accounting principles behind not spending the money you do not have...

Then again, the next day, Obama is at it again:

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he is “prepared to work with Democrats and Republicans” to seek solutions for long-term deficits fueled by entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

“This is going to be a negotiation process,” Obama said at a Washington news conference, saying a solution to “huge problems” from Medicare and Medicaid spending are possible if “all sides are serious about it and all sides are willing to give a little bit.”
[...]
Obama sent Congress a $3.7 trillion budget yesterday that projects the federal deficit will exceed $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive year in 2012.

He didn’t offer a specific overhaul of Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, which represent about 40 percent of the budget.
[...]
The government must make “tough choices,” Obama said today. “Cutting domestic spending alone won’t be enough to meet our long term fiscal challenges.” He said he’s “eager” to tackle defense spending, health care and the tax code. “Everyone’s going to have to give a little bit.”

I can't even think of any comment here, I'm speechless.

Sorry for the rant. I try to avoid them as much as possible. But some times, too much is too much.