Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) said on NPR "we're $800billion in the Red!!!

[Up2Late]

WTF?!? :wtf: U.S. Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) was speaking to some unhappy voters in his home district and while tying to justify voting against help for Katrina Victims, he said something quite shocking, and one of NPR's reporters just happened to be recording him when he said it.

He said to his home district folks,

"...forget Katrina, forget Iraq, well, we're already $800 billion in the red without those, so when you talk about hurting the very, ah, least able, ah, insolvency of the Federal Government would hurt them the most..."

Now, I see one of two ways to explain this statement, either he was just caught in a HUGE lie to his voters, or he's telling the truth, and just let slip the TRUE state of the Federal budget.

Either way, I think someone should call him on this and try to exploit this gaff.

What to you folks think?:shrug:

Here's the link to the NPR audio, if you want to hear it:

Hostettler: What Indiana Constituents Are Saying

Listen to this story...(at link above)
by Andrea Seabrook

All Things Considered, December 5, 2005 · U.S. Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN) is a staunch conservative who usually wins re-election by close margins. He was in his home district during the Thanksgiving break, at a time when GOP lawmakers were on the defensive over controversial budget bills, ethics flaps and an unpopular war in Iraq.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5039616>

[aquart]

1. He's underestimating. Rescind the tax cuts.

And then tax income over $750,000 at 60%.

[Up2Late]

2. You might be right about the Under-estimation, but what I was referring...

...to is that, I've never heard a Republican in Congress refer to any number higher that $500 Billion Dollar budget deficit, in fact, I think the number I last heard them throw around was about $420 Billion, so $800 Billion should be News, or we should make it news.

[sendero]

7. I was under the impression.

.... that the budget deficit numbers do not include all kinds of expensive things such as the Iraq war for example.

If that is so, then $800B is definitely possible.

[Zynx]

9. If you take the SS surplus out, then it would be more like $600 billion.

[pushycat]

12. Excellent solution to our huge deficit and income gap. Excellent

[w13rd0]

3. What I find interesting...

...is that a Republican would admit that massive debt may result in insolvency. The GOP relies on people not thinking that deeply.

Just take the simple case of a pair of $100 sneakers. That's one Franklin. But that's also less than an hour of work for a lawyer. But it's several days of work for a minimum wage earner. Now how much labor went into actually making those sneakers and getting them to market? Now if I buy those shoes on credit, it's going to multiply the amount of labor I must expend, over time, to purchase those sneakers.

So who in the hell is getting all that cream? And when I spend the first 10 days of every month doing labor for the government to pay for kickbacks to the wealthy and pay for their war, and then another 10 days doing labor to pay the credit companies for lending me the money for last months rent, and then another 3 days for a new pair of sneakers, and another 40 hours to pay for groceries, and an extra shift to pay the telephone bill...and so on, and so on...

Companies are outsourcing because American labor isn't cost effective because we've been getting less and less for our labor, so we've been putting in less and less time at the upper tiers, and more and more on the lower. Our economy is GROSSLY unbalanced. CEOs in foreign held companies seldom make more than 10x the wages of their median employee. In the US, they make 20+ times the wages of their median employees. We've been subsidizing the wealthy, and they've been borrowing billions annually from foreign debtors to give us enough "bling" to keep us from out and out revolting. The bill is gonna come due soon. They'll kill us all before sacrificing their lifestyles.

[xchrom]

4. ''They'll kill us all before sacrificing their lifestyles.''

thought that could stand repeating.

[sendero]

8. 20X...

... try 500X.

[Up2Late]

11. Exactly, I don't know if everyone here would agree, but when the Dems...

...win back the Congress, I think they really need to work on a new Law that limit CEO and board member pay to 10-20 times that of a companies lowest paid wage earner. The idea that US corporations board of director's and CEO's will ever do this on their own, is lunacy

That would definitely "fix" the financial "troubles" US Corporation are having balancing their books.

Yes, I can hear the arguments, "...but if the government did this, nobody would want to be on the board of directors..." :cry:

BS! I'd take that kind of pay for what is, in most cases, is a part time job.:evilgrin:

[Tom_Foolery]

5. I used to work with Hostettler's brother...

and he is a good Liberal who has been a thorn in Hostettler's side ever since he was elected to Congress.

[zbdent]

6. Hey, let's get really conservative

and go back to the tax rates of the 1950s . . . before JFK's much ballyhooed tax cut . . .

[yellowcanine]

10. 2006 may be the year when Hostettler gets beaten. Any Indiana folks in

touch with what is going on in his district? In the past that district has been very competitive so the Dems should have a decent shot next year if they can recruit a good candidate.

[Up2Late]

13. kick n/t

:kick: