Tom Harkin: We Don’t Have a Spending Problem

Unbelievable… today during the Senate Appropriations Committee Meeting Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) said that we do not have a spending problem.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think, first of all, I want to disagree with those who say we have a spending problem. Everyone keeps saying we have a spending problem. And when they talk about that, it’s like there’s an assumption that somehow we as a nation are broke. We can’t afford these things any longer. We’re too broke to invest in education and housing and things like that. Well look at it this way, we’re the richest nation in the history of the world. We are now the richest nation in the world. We have the highest per capita income of any major nation. That kind of begs the question, doesn’t it? If we’re so rich, why are we so broke? Is it a spending problem? No.

You can watch the video of his comments below.

He must be taking his cue from President Barack Obama who said that he won’t add a single dime to our debt even though he’s promoted the creation of 29 new spending initiatives during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Riiiiiiight…. we just need to reallocate funds.  We’ll just ignore this chart below then.  It’s a fantasy, nothing to see here.

Harkin Photo by Ryan J. Reilly (CC by 3.0)