Where was this crowd?

I'm starting to  feel embarrassed for Democrats who walk around holding pictures of President Obama.  But I feel a lot more embarrassed for the tea-baggers.

It's as if the Fox News orchestrated tea-bag movement that swarmed Washington Saturday had never heard of "saving for a rainy day."  During the Bush years Americans didn't save enough.  Their government didn't save enough.

Then it rained.  Hard. To stay dry the government sought to stimulate the economy (to avert a possible great depression, more job losses, deflation, a "lost decade" such as Japan experienced during the 1990s.) Emergency spending further increased the deficit. Mainly because the kitty was already empty.

Increased government spending during a major economic downturn is defensible. Anyone can justify it.

But for the US government to have over-spent during boom years -- during a time of escalating liabilities (war, an aging population) -- was not defensible.   We can debate emergency economic relief measures until our faces turn blue. But giving the wealthy tax cuts during boom years and yet making no effort to balance the deficit was just plain irresponsible. Grossly irresponsible.  Especially given that the country was fighting two wars.

The most anger should be directed at the group that emptied the kitty, not the leader forced to confront an economic meltdown on an empty kitty.

Have you noticed that they only call it socialism when it comes to spending taxpayer money in such a way that ordinary taxpayers might benefit?  It's interesting that the Fox News crowd has been relatively quiet about corporate socialism: bailing out Wall Street, give-aways to the pharmaceutical industry, continued investment in the military hardware needed to fight the Soviets, the wars of choice.

To imagine that 46 million Americans don't have any health insurance, yet everyone else in the developed world has coverage; that only Americans stand to lose their health insurance when they get downsized; or stand to lose their homes if they come down with a severe chronic illness.

It all makes you feel kind of embarrassed for them, doesn't it?