• “I hope you can tell I’m an optimistic fellow. We’ve been through a lot over the last seven years, we really have. But I’m absolutely convinced this country is strong and vibrant.”
  — US President George W. Bush on Monday

Decider George was blowing acrid smoke up some business asses as he blubbered to his kind of people: A Rotary Club gathering in Fredericksburg, Va.
The dipwad! As of early today the National Debt was at $9,177,254,271,467.77: Each US citizen’s share — $30,204.60
And continues to increase at $1.51 billion each and every day!

And he blubbers about “We’ve..” Decider George, of course, knows this whole situation is his making and he knows there’s no skin rubbed off his ass.
And off the collective asses of his friends. In a report by The New York Times earlier this year, families earning more than $1 million a year saw their federal tax rates drop.
And the study, by the Congressional Budget Office, revealed tax rates for middle-income earners edged up in 2004, while rates for people at the very top continued to decline. The reason: Two measures, tax cuts on investment income and a steady reduction of estate taxes “overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest households.”

And along with the rich, human slaughter also is added to the bill. Last Friday, the Senate passed a defense policy bill for 2008: $696 billion for military spending, including $189 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Decider George, despite all that, whined it won’t pay the bills: “It is time for Congress to support the troops with actual funding.”

Cost for the Iraq war: $1.2 trillion and climbing.

• In the days before the war almost five years ago, the Pentagon estimated that it would cost about $50 billion. Democratic staff members in Congress largely agreed. Lawrence Lindsey, a White House economic advisor, was a bit more realistic, predicting that the cost could go as high as $200 billion, but President Bush fired him in part for saying so.
  — The New York Times (1/17/07)

So who are we going to believe? A natural-born liar?

• “This economy is pretty good. There’s definitely some storm clouds and concerns, but the underpinning is good, and we’ll work our way through this period.”
  — Decider George’s speech to Rotarians on Monday.

We all can look forward to some real-bad shit hitting the fan real soon.

All of us: Be concerned, be very concerned.