With government, "change" almost always means a change to more government.

And "bringing new ideas to Washington" means new ideas for how to spend your money.  Bush's budgets were horrific, of course, but Obama has definitely made things worse (particularly note that large increase in aggressive war -- er, defense -- spending):

Click on the image for a larger view.

“How long can the world’s biggest borrower remain the world’s biggest power?”

That question was asked by Obama's Chief Economic Adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, one year ago.  It's a question worth asking, because America's skyrocketing deficits will eventually have a global political impact. This is a chilling wake up call for those who believe arrogantly that the U.S is immune to the bankruptcies of empires in the pages of our history books.

The coming year's projected deficit (not the national debt -- just this year's deficit) is about 11% of the country's economic output. Meanwhile, deficits are not anticipated to return to sustainable levels over the next decade but to increase by 2019 or 2020 by about 5% of the gross domestic product.

Giant Budget Deficit Imperils Economic Recovery...Noooo, you think?

From Newser:

The federal deficit in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was $1.4 trillion, lower than projected but still a record. At 10% of GDP, the figure is the largest since 1945, when the deficio lett was 21.5% of GDP. The figure made public today coincides with early rumblings about extending some features of last winter's $787 billion stimulus package, the New York Times reports.

"It was critical that we acted to bring the economy back from the brink earlier this year," said White House OMB director Peter Orszag. "The president recognizes that we need to put the nation back on a fiscally sustainable path."

So let me get this straight:  The deficit is huge, rightfully making us concerned that it's going to completely screw us over while trying to get out of this panic.  Nonetheless it was a good thing we spent huge amounts of money and created a deficit of this size.  However, the president thinks we should still be more fiscally responsible.  But we still might want to continue to spend more money like we have been. 

Basically, the conclusion seems to be that we're worried about the deficit but we're not and we don't think we should spend more but we do.  Well, at least we're getting our taxtdollars worth on the spin doctors they're hiring.

"It's Time to Make Some Tough Choices. Or We're Doomed."

President Obama has promised that the health care bill will be "deficit neutral." Regardless of whether you believe that or not (I don't), that's not going to be enough.

A few days ago, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released something called the "Long-Term Budget Outlook." According to the CBO, the following will happen if we don't change our ways:

• Next year, the debt will be above 60% of GDP.
• By 2023, the debt will exceed 100% of GDP
• By 2076, the debt will be above 6.5 times GDP
• "Starting in the 2060s, projected deficits become so large and unsustainable that CBO's textbook growth model cannot calculate their effects."

And that's being optimistic. This assumes that interest rates on government bonds remain low -- which they won't -- and that economic growth grows at historical levels -- which I doubt.

To which Leonard Burman says,

It's time to make some hard choices. Or we're doomed.

Somehow --  even in the face of all of this! -- we're looking at massive increases in entitlements and a continuation of foreign wars. If things keep going the way they are, I'm putting my money on "we're doomed."