Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

Nancy Pelosi In 2007: “No New Deficit Spending”

Doug Mataconis
20

Just so it’s clear that it isn’t just Republicans who are hypocritical when they talk about fiscal responsibility, I give you the words of Nancy Pelosi on January 4, 2007, her first day as Speaker of the House:

“After years of historic deficits, this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go, no new deficit spending,” she said in an address from the speaker’s podium. “Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt.”

According to the United States Treasury, the National Debt on that day was $8,670,596,242,973.04. As of December 24th, it was %|$13,866,145,290,604.69. That’s $5,195,549,047,631.65 in new deficit spending in over just under four years.

Promise kept? Not so much.

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20 responses to “Nancy Pelosi In 2007: “No New Deficit Spending””

  1. Terrye Avatar
    Terrye

    Disgrace.

  2. wr Avatar
    wr

    Hmm, what might have happened between January, 2007 and now that could account for that terrible extra spending? Oh, wait, I seem to recall the the financial system of the entire world was teetering on the edge of collapse, that the country was plunging towards a second Great Depression, and unemployment skyrocketed.

    But I guess you’re right, Doug. Just because the circumstances of the world changed radically, that’s no reason to adjust one’s response. I mean, look at the Republicans — when there’s a surplus, the answer is tax cuts for the rich, when there’s a deficit, the cure is tax cuts for the rich. When people are being thrown out of their homes, when transplant patients are dying in the streets, the answer is tax cuts for the rich.

    Nancy Pelosi clearly isn’t a strong, resolute individual like those good Republicans. When the world changed, so did her actions. What a hypocrite.

  3. Alex Knapp Avatar
    Alex Knapp

    That’s $5,195,549,047,631.65 in new deficit spending in over just under four years.

    This is only a correct statement if the interest owed on the National Debt is zero. I believe that this is incorrect….

  4. Smooth Jazz Avatar
    Smooth Jazz

    That giant sucking sound and thud I hear is the head of blogger Doug M hitting the floor when he heard the much hated former Alaska Gov Sarah Palin was named the 2nd most admired woman in America. I guess a post on the Gallup poll was too much to ask for a Palin Hating blog – especially when they are so quick to jump on any MSM hit piece, rigged poll or Repub elite snarky putdown of Gov Palin.

    She even finished ahead of Lib darlings such as Oprah and Michelle. I suspect that’s too much for Doug & OTB to bear, so no post. You post about every negative news item or rumor on Gov Palin that comes down the pike, but nothing on her being the 2nd most admired woman in America. What gives??? I think that is a remarkable achievement given how much she has been attacked don’t cha think?? Not to worry Doug, I’m sure there will be a bogus poll or Noonan putdown that you can blog about tomorrow.

  5. john personna Avatar
    john personna

    Heh, I agree wr. Or, perhaps as with the “Time To Put Defense Cuts On The Table” post, Doug is just going for the comedy today.

    I mean really, we are just on a straight-line projection from 2007, aren’t we?

  6. john personna Avatar
    john personna

    Smooth, are you really that comfortable with a poll that puts Barack Obama as the most admired man, and Hillary Clinton as the most admired Woman?

    I kind of get a kick out of it, given how that must gall some people, but I can’t take it too seriously. Any open-ended poll like this as much “brand awareness” as anything else. You can pick someone extremely admirable but if most people aren’t aware of that “brand,” he or she loses.

    Whatever happened to “Sully” Sullenberger? He wasn’t thought of in that moment, so he scores below Glenn Beck.

    (And who the heck is still out there voting “most admired” to GWB?)

  7. wr Avatar
    wr

    Is Oprah a lib darling? Really? According to whom? I believe she’s a liberal, and she’s got a devoted fan base, but she never struck me as a primarily political figure. Whatever her own leanings, I don’t think her audience adores her for her politics…

    Funny that Smooth forgot to mention who came in above La Palin in this silly poll…

  8. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    I don’t think we should begrudge Smooth his pride in Gov. Half-term. When it comes to stature in American life, Palin is right up there with Snooki and those wacky Kardashian girls…

  9. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    > the country was plunging towards a second Great Depression

    Yes, but this is now a complete non-event in the right wing-0-sphere. It’s a bit like when one of Stain’s confidantes suddenly vanished. The silence about what actually happened is deafening.

  10. jasen comstock Avatar
    jasen comstock

    If I recall the paygo cherry was popped in 2007 over the amt fix. I don’t recall many Democrats clamoring for that particular deficit expansion. Republicans insisted it not be paid for.

  11. anjin-san Avatar
    anjin-san

    > Stain’s confidantes

    Stalin’s confidantes…

  12. joe Avatar
    joe

    She didn’t say “no new debt”, she said she wasn’t going to increase existing deficits. Why am I subscribed to this blog in my google reader anyway? Should I really be reading somone that is confused by basic accounting? The deficit the year she gave that speech was the lowest it’d been in half a decade and probably the lowest it will be for decades to come. Maybe if a multitrillion dollar bubble didn’t blow up in the middle of the financial sector late in the 110th’s session this rather quixotic promise could have been kept.

  13. Axel Edgren Avatar
    Axel Edgren

    The only correct diagnosis of Palin Derangement Syndrome is “Not watching her like a vial of the plague”.

    Smooth Jazz, you need to accept that a) caring about the US involves keeping a firm check on and constantly malingering those who are gunning for the top office while being clearly unfit for it
    and b) Palin is not a very improbable nominee.

    Palin is perhaps not the most likely contender for the GOP ticket, but the fact that she is W in a pantsuit still makes her a prime target for heckling, harassment and constant ridicule. Her entire persona must be antagonized and the fight to keep her away from power must be constant.

    I hate Sarah Palin. I hate those who do not hate her. There is nothing to suggest this is a contestable or even extreme position of mine.

  14. Axel Edgren Avatar
    Axel Edgren

    Doug, if you want to get really upset about deficits and perhaps create your own “Top ten of the most ebul congresseseseses in US history that spent a lot of mony so I dislike dum very much”
    then I suggest you start scrutinizing the congress during the 1940s. I heard there was a lot of deficit spending around that area.

    For some reason.

  15. john personna Avatar
    john personna

    I like Sarah and the family. I wouldn’t mind hanging out with them in Alaska.

    Hoping that she’d stay there isn’t really that unkind.

  16. wesley Avatar
    wesley

    Tax cuts for the rich, tax cuts for the rich, blah, blah, blah. Can’t you libs come up with anything new to defend your party and the retards like Pelosi who have crippled this nation the last 2 years?
    The wealthy already pay 70% of the taxes in this country, and you clowns want to penalize them even further? Oh yeah, and redistribute the wealth, as in taking from the motivated and successful and giving it to the bottom feeders who contribute nothing to this nation. Pelosi is worth many millions; I wonder how this redistribution BS would work for her? Oh wait, she would be exempt of course, just like all these DC types are exempt from Obummers healthcare plan and pension cuts or whatever the unwashed masses have to live with.
    Get a clue people, this snakle is a commie far left ideolog who wants the same socialist utopia that Barry dreams about, and it ain’t gonna happen because we on the right aren’t falling for it and won’t let it happen…

  17. Sharpshooter Avatar
    Sharpshooter

    Sure is some schizophrenic blather in the comments.

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