“We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt…”

1997 was the last time the Federal Government balanced its budget. This occured under President Clinton and a Republican controlled Congress.

When President Bush entered office, he actually inherited a budget surplus for the first time in decades. However, he quickly ran up huge budget deficits and doubled the national debt over eight years. During his tenure, Republicans controlled Congress for six years, while Democrats controlled Congress for two years.

Now, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects President Obama will preside over even bigger budget deficits and double the national debt in just five years. And through at least 2010, Democrats will also control the Congress.

So,  since 1997, whether it’s the Republicans or the Democrats, they’re simply not getting the job done.  America, the buck stops with us.  Ultimately, it’s up to us to hold them accountable.

Henry Morgenthau, after two terms of FDR’s “New Deal”, stated, “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work…After eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…And an enormous debt to boot!”

Many consider Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, to be a financial genius. However, a closer look at some of his most crucial predictions suggest the opposite.

First, in early 2008, Bernanke predicted that the US would not fall into a recession.

In early 2009, we are now mired in the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Second, in early 2007, Bernanke predicted that the subprime mortgage mess would be grave but largely contained.

In early 2009, housing prices have plummeted and foreclosures have exploded.

Third, in early 2008, Bernanke predicted some small banks would fail, but the largest institutions would remain healthy.

Beginning in the summer of 2008, the giants started to crumble. IndyMac failed, then Washington Mutual, then Wachovia was sold to Wells Fargo, then Citigroup & Bank of America received billions of dollars of bailout money, and now the FDIC is considering as much as $500 billion to cover failing banks in 2009.

Despite these critical errors in economic forecasting, Bernanke continues to play a leading role in directing our nation’s fiscal and monetary policy. Neither Bush nor Obama even considered replacing him.

Perhaps a better policy would be to select those few individuals who accurately predicted the current economic crisis and allow them to propose potential solutions.

The time has come to stop rewarding failure.