YOUR COMMENTS

To all of you who think that we can spend this kind of money, by borrowing, you need to realize that nobody is going to lend us this kind of money. That means this spending will be the most nefarious of taxes. This money will simply be printed, not earned nor will we produce anything to print this money. Therefore the supply of money will drastically increase (economists are saying that the money supply will nearly triple) but there will not be any more goods to purchase. Once all this money is circulating in the economy, chasing the same goods as before, hyper-inflation will result. I'd guess that prices will probably triple (to match the money supply), hopefully over several years, but it could happen over one year. This will make anything you have saved, be worth about 1/3 as much. Your wages certainly aren't going to triple in one year (unless you work in congress). Food will triple, fuel will triple, housing will triple, and almost anything else you can think of, will triple. We won't be taxed overtly to pay for all this wonderful stimulus spending, but make no mistake, we are going to pay for this stimulus, in many ways. I have not even mentioned the interest on this massive debt, either in this missive. It's not too late, to make a difference, we need the government to slow their "pie in the sky"social program spending, until we can actually pay for them. We are being totally lied to in one of the greatest deceptions in the history of this country. Contact Senator Shaheen and tell her to act more responsibly with our children's future. Write, call, email, and fax her daily.
- Kevin, Campton

Mike in Derry, drive by comments not based on facts are baseless. Mr Gregg is doing the fiscally responsible thing in standing up to adolph obama. Can anyone here explain how the obama budget will help the economy in both the short and long term? Please prove Senator Gregg, and the congressional budget office wrong. jeanne shaheen is spending stimulus money that wont create a single job in NH (source Shaheen office) The problem is not just taxes, not just spending and not even limited to a combination of the two. The problem is the government.
- Michael Lyon, Derry

Just food for thought, what will the argument be when this Obamination actually works and folks are working (able to pay taxes) thus reducing the strain on us tax payers? Also, are all you conservatives lobbying to be removed from the social security program and medicare - afterall your personal budgeting must be perfect and therefore you must not need any help in future years from the feds. The problem once again with America - everyone wants to take but nobody wants to contribute. We live in a country where if we are fortunate to work we should be fortunate to contribute to those less fortunate, that being said everyone that can do something needs to get off their duff and work as much as they can for their personal well being and that of this wondeful country.
- Steve, Manchester

What an April Fool Judd Gregg is! For twenty years while he was in Washington his party ran up 70% of the national debt under Reagan and the two Bushes. We barely heard a peep from him about the national debt. And when Clinton brought it way, way down, all I heard was criticism of his presidency. Sure Obama is increasing the debt, but if Bush's policys hadn't destroyed our economy, it wouldn't be necessary. Watch the documentary IOUSA and learn how we'd have no national debt at all today if the Republicans had continued to go along with the bipartian policys crafted by Clinton and blown apart by Bush. Judd Gregg had a big hand in running up the deficit when he could of brought it down to nothing. Such a fool.
- Hank, Bedford

I wonder if Gregg lost half his lottery prize of $800,000+ in the market last year. Why would a United States Senator even play the lottery???
- Rick, Raymond NH

How can anyone say anything about Bush. Obama is proposing a budget that has more deficit spending than every president from Bush to Washington. Comparatively Bush spent nothing compared to the path Obama is taking. We are talking about taking on more debt than we can ever pay off. At the same time we are going to destroy the dollars value. Who cares that I can't buy food, I will at least be able to see a dentist. Wake up!
- Mike Buck, Reno, NV

this guy is obviously more comfy as a
lame senate joker than as someone who really makes a differnce.
- mike, derry

Bush spending:
Well Bush was supposed to be a conservative, one for small government and fiscal responsibility. From the results, he and the congress that too often rubber stamped his budgets, including off budget items like all that money for the war (in 60+ billion allotments) was not really conservative. And 'everybody' 'knew' about those tax and spend democrats. Well the last good budget was Clitons, and if we had continued on his style budget we would not be in debt, but maybe running a surplus.

So Obama is now running a super big budget. Is this not what someone would expect from the above? In any case Obama is not trying to pretend to play conservative. He is trying to solve problems that go back several presidencies.

Actually hidden in that budget is the interest on the debt (remember Tyrannosaurus debt? reference School House Rock) that was run up in Bush years.

And yes, basically it may not be Bush's fault totally, but his example of running debt and expanding government on a political platform of doing the opposite is not a good example, not one that republicans can point to and say that Obama is out of line. The real example is Clinton, and he did not have a problem of this level.

Some prez have easy tiimes, and little fame. Obama will have fame, and Bush infamy.

Sean
- sean, chino, ca

Matt - I can't tell if you are being facetious or not, but the flaw in your argument is that I never stated it was acceptable for Bush (and the Dem Congress) to run deficits that were 'merely' (compared to Obama's) in the hundreds of billions.

But let's play "extend the logic" some more. By Obama's logic vis-a-vis GM, the Chinese have the right to fire Obama and replace him with someone more to their liking.

I like this game.
- Tom, Campton

Tony from Troy you are aware that Pelosi is in the House of Representatives and Shaheen is in the Senate. These are different legislative bodies.

According Tom's logic(ha,ha) it is OK for Repubs to spend but downright awful when Libs spend and then applaud our Senator wasting time, but then again Tom is smarting then our President or everyone else for that matter. Oh wait it is April Fool's Day!!
- Matt, Newton

Hey, know what would make a good April Fool's joke? A "story" that Gregg would be accepting an appointment as President Obama's Secretary of Commerce. Nah, never mind, it's been done already...
- Zoot, Derry

The only clowns I see are the liberal democrats, this all started in 1997 with 1437f. Low-income housing assistance act. During the first two years of the Bush administration both responsible Democrats and Republicans tried seventeen times to rain in Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac and every time Senators Dodd and Frank lobbied with other liberals to kill any and all bills that would have fixed the problem in the first place. Do some research before all of you blind partisan ideolog’s start poo pooing one side. Washington on a whole is dysfunctional but Gregg has always tried to do right by this state and has done way more good than Shaheen, Hodes and Sha-porter. And by the way hasn’t the Democrats controlled the purse strings of this country since 2006.
- Joe, Troy, NH

Wow..Shaheen is such an indeoendent thinker.......NOT! She's a Pelosi tool and nothing more, God help the the state of NH.
- Tony, Troy, NH

It's been too many decades since my civics class, but I suggest this debate is off the mark. Congress determines spending - not the President. The President can only use the bully pulpit and say "yes" or "no" to what Congress gives him. Either party in control of Congress and the Presidency is a disaster. In recent years, the only time it happened was the first 2 Clinton years (disaster) and the middle 4 Bush II years (disaster). Now we get at least 2 years of Obama and guess what?
Oh, remember those "golden" Clinton years when a surplus briefly existed? Republicans controlled Congress for the last 6 of Clinton's 8 years.
- Steve, Londonderry

That's just wonderful!
OK New Hampshirites give it up for our illustrious senator "Shecky" Gregg. Short on delivery, especially for NH, but good for a chuckle. Coming soon to a theater near you he's a short-timer with schtick to spare. A comic impersonating a US senator and unfortunately the joke is on NH. Good riddance to this clown 2010 can't come fast enough.
- Dennis, Derry

The Obamacrats continue to rely upon the tired argument that since President Bush ran up a large amount of debt, it is therefore OK for Obama to run up 2,3,4,5 times as much. It's a silly argument, but the only way to cover for Obama's intellectual vacuity - Obama's solution to every problem is to spend more money.

Gregg's amendment was a waste of time, but this is a good thing. It kept the Obamacrats from using the time to borrow more, tax more, print more, and spend more.

Well done, Senator Gregg.
- Tom, Campton

Gregg and his Republican cronies choose to have the Senate waste time on an amendment he knows has no chance of passing rather than provide constructive ideas, and on a topic he was totally silent on (along with the topic of financial and real estate regulation, the lack of which got us in a lot of this mess) for the eight years of Bushonomics. What a hypocrite. I can't wait to vote this clown out of office.
- Mike, Bedford

WOW, I love how everyone in here keeps commenting on Bush's spending. His came no where near what Obama is proposing in his budget along with his spendulous bill. I can't even beleive people are comparing the 2. Its like, saying I owe 20k for a car or 300k for house, huge difference. Obama will bankrupt our nation if we continue down this path.
- Tom, Manchester

So Jack from Franconia and Pete from Sunapee if we apply the same litmus test you use in regards to the economy to the war on terror 911 was Clintons fault….right? The “Obamanation” which you two seem to be a part of has no problem with the current dis-administration spending more money than any legislative body since George Washington to George W. Bush. To say that Paulson and Geithner tag teaming both administrations into trying to spend our way out of a recession is in anyway Bush’s fault is nothing short of ether ignorant of the facts or totally disingenuous.
- AMC, Troy, NH

WOW, I love how everyone in here keeps commenting on Bush's spending. His came no where near what Obama is proposing in his budget along with his spendulous bill. I can't even beleive people are comparing the 2. Its like, saying I owe 20k for a car or 300k for house, huge difference.
- Tom, Manchester

Mr. Gregg is a smart man. It's too bad he didn't bring it up years ago. Anyway, there are too many spenders in government to even consider such a thing.
- Bill, Dunbarton

News flash: Union Leader launches new cable channel "All Gregg all the time." Oops, I meant that IS the Union Leader.
- LJC, Manchester

It's too bad that Gregg is choosing to end his political career as a joke and a hypocrite.
- Frank, Manchester

I agree, Gregg could have been more outspoken in the past. However, I'm glad *somebody* is trying to stop what Obama is doing.

This just in: Bush isn't president anymore. You can't blame him anymore. This is Obama's mess now. He's taking a bad situation and making it worse - much worse.

Stop pointing fingers and trying to place blame. Let's *DO SOMETHING* intelligent to get us back on track.

Shaheen: Green energy and health care to save the economy? Really? Aim higher.
- Brent Theobald, Manchester

For me, it's always good to hear the name Franklin Pierce, whether it's the college or the President. That is a name which isn't mentioned enough in this state.
- Tom Donovan, Hooksett

This all begs the question: since George W. Bush's record-breaking deficits didn't stir Gregg to take the floor and denounce them with an amendment written just for the occasion, then might this be just a load of partisan horse tookey?

Or is it just April Fools?
- Jack, Franconia

too bad Gregg did not choose to decry the Bush spending and old boy politics that got us here.
It seems the Senator has chosen to be the conservative kamakazi as a way to end his career.
Instead of wasting time playing politics and becoming a buffoon, he should be using his experience to help get us out of the "Bush depression"
- pete, sunapee

While the good Senators amendment may have been partially tounge in cheek no one can argue that he is correct in his assuptions regarding the present spending course of the Democratic administration. It is also readily apparent that senate members of both parties would agree that the Presidents budget would harm the country from a debt perspective. It is time for all elected officials to stop focusing on the mistakes of the past especially when many of these same elected officials supported much of the deregulation which brought our economy to where it is today. Senator Gregg is right in his assuption that the combination of stimulus spending coupled with an earmark laden omnibusbill and budget will for all intents and purposed bankrupt the country. Other elected officials should give these measures the same scrutiny or face the consquences of spiraling inflation in the near future and the creation of a debt burden which shall be shouldered by our children. The concept that budgets are balanced on borrowed money for enternity is one which should be changed.
- jim jalbert, rollinsford nh