Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on May 15, 2009

By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone

Audacity, thy name is Obama.

To debt and credit and spending, spending, spending...

He said to the Arizona grads, “We’ve become accustomed to our economic dominance in the world, forgetting that it wasn’t reckless deals and get-rich-quick schemes that got us where we are, but hard work and smart ideas—quality products and wise investments. We started taking shortcuts. We started living on credit, instead of building up savings.”

But not too long ago, Obama’s own personal credit left a lot to be desired. He and Michelle were living way beyond their means and they achieved it by… borrowing up the hilt and living on credit. He had virtually no investments or made charitable contributions. Obama’s passion for overspending on himself has been his passion for years. Only now, he’s overspending OUR money and wracking up debt for all Americans and most American companies.

Hypocrisy with consequences.

Eye-opening article about Obama’s passion for overspending in the New York Daily News:

Richard Henry Lee, New York Daily News: President Obama’s troubling mantra: In debt, we trust
May 2, 2009

It is no surprise that President Obama supports unprecedented spending and borrowing in the federal budget since he has never suffered any consequences from the excessive spending and borrowing in his private life.

And I’m not just talking about the First Lady’s $540 sneakers.

A close examination of their finances shows that the Obamas were living off lines of credit along with other income for several years until 2005, when Obama’s book royalties came through and Michelle received her 260% pay raise at the University of Chicago. This was also the year Obama started serving in the U.S. Senate…

In April 1999, they purchased a Chicago condo and obtained a mortgage for $159,250. In May 1999, they took out a line of credit for $20,750. Then, in 2002, they refinanced the condo with a $210,000 mortgage, which means they took out about $50,000 in equity. Finally, in 2004, they took out another line of credit for $100,000 on top of the mortgage.

Tax returns for 2004 reveal $14,395 in mortgage deductions. If we assume an effective interest rate of 6%, then they owed about $240,000 on a home they purchased for about $159,250.

This means they spent perhaps $80,000 beyond their income from 1999 to 2004…

These numbers clearly show the Obamas were living beyond their means and they might have suffered financially during the decline in housing prices had they relied on taking ever larger amounts of equity from their home to pay the bills.

But in 2005, Obama’s book sales soared and the royalties poured in. Michelle explained, “It was like Jack and his magic beans.”

Without those magic beans, the Obama family would have eventually suffered the consequences of too much debt.

Obama’s penchant for borrowing in his private life carries over to his public life.

Read the entire New York Daily News article by clicking here.

This explains so much about Obama’s wild spending as POTUS. No frugal, financially responsible president would capriciously borrow as much as Obama has, mortgaging our children’s and our grandchildren’s futures with nary a blink.

• Now Obama’s frequent, expensive White House parties with $100-a-pound Japanese wagyu steak while millions of American families struggle to buy groceries makes sense.

• Now Obama’s jetting around every week or so on Air Force One like he’s a fun-loving college party boy who has snagged Dad’s car keys and treats the jumbo jet like his personal “man toy” makes sense. That spendthrift mentality extends to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her personal jet, paid for by, you guessed it, we the taxpayers.

• Now the over-the-top cost of Obama’s inauguration, the most expensive in US history, makes sense. As does his over-the-top cost for attendance at the G20 conference in London, with his unprecedented entourage of 500.

• Now Obama’s narcissism, stubbornness, and naiveté to not listen to respected economists and financial advisors about how his reckless spending and exorbitant budget plans and non-stop bailouts will plunge America into a financial rat hole for years makes sense.

Obama has always been irresponsible with money. Always overspending, acting like a willful, spendthrift teenager, living for today and screw the consequences of tomorrow.

Oh, the avuncular rhetoric is there, the stern admonishments to others, like his address to the ASU graduates. But his warnings are always to others, never meant to apply to Obama himself. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Frugality, saving, doing without, and tightening the belt… Obama has never done it himself. He and his wife have lived lustily on credit, lived beyond their means, and had significant debt.

The signs of this behavior have always been there. Problem is, 52 percent of American voters ignored those signs, those warnings, were swept up in his empty, hypocritical platitudes, and have permitted Obama the Wastrel to continue to live lavishly while squandering everyone else’s money on expensive programs, bailouts, and projects we cannot afford. Pork barrel spending times a thousand. Times a million. Times a trillion.

But Obama wants what Obama wants, and as usual, he ignores everyone to get what he wants. Like a thoughtless, irresponsible, spoiled frat boy. Give me the keys, give me the credit card. ciao!

And there are no more magic beans from Jack to be had. America is nearly bankrupt.

The warning signs and evidence of the Obamas’ spendthrift ways, past and present:
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Barack & Michelle’s Saturday Night Date… Finally, the REAL Cost to Taxpayers Revealed | Video Update: WH Press Sec Gibbs Dodges Reporter’s “Date Night” Cost Question and Government’s Grand Con Game: Waxman-Markey Energy Tax Bill Benefits Obama’s Tax Revenue Coffers & Nothing Else and Wealthy Democrat Supporters Dumbfounded… Realize Obama Will Take Their Money and Tea Party Time: Spendthrift Obama Spends Fortune on Daughters’ ‘Cadillac’ Castle Playground Set with Penthouse Bubble: His Own Money, or Taxpayers’ Money?
Dan Mitchell, Big Government: The Problem Is Spending, Not Deficits
Michelle Malkin: Spendapalooza: The Obamas’ vacation at Martha’s Vineyard and The more he talks about nationalizing health care and spending more money… and A Biden connection: The Amtrak IG scandal and Recessionista: The cost of MichelleO’s commencement appearance and Bad habit: Companies say Obama inflated promises again and Hey, how’s that porkulus working out? and Cube-steak Americans vs. the Wagyu-beef White House and California wants a piece of TARP
ABC News: Luxury Getaways for the President: Martha’s Vineyard and Beyond – President Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard Getaway Is Expected to Cost Tens of Thousands; Where Else Could He Go for That Kind of Money?
Phelim McAleer & Ann McElhinney, Big Hollywood: Come Fly With Me | Obama’s Broadway date and Eco-Hyprocrisy

Categories: Conservatism, Economy, Education, Frugal Ponderings, Government, Social and Political Climate
Tags: Air Force One, Americans, Arizona State University, ASU, bailouts, Barack Obama, borrowing, citizens against government waste, credit, debt, economic depression, economic free-fall, government waste, graduates, investments, Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Obama, Obama debt, Obama hypocrisy, Obama money, Obama personal debt, overspend, pork barrel spending, porkulus, president, socialism, spendthrift, taxes, taxpayers, welfare