Will We Be Over the Hump When the Day is Done?

It's "Hump Day" which means that if you make it through, you're "over the hump." But a look at the news this morning would seem to suggest otherwise for America.

Warren Buffett, once proclaimed as an economic adviser by our president, says that the massive debt piled up to "rescue" the economy now threatens to be a greater danger than the original crisis.

"... their threat may be as ominous as that posed by the financial crisis itself."

With all due respect, Mr. Buffett, "well, duh!" A lot of people saw this coming well before now. The trick is how to deal with it, and I don't care much for Mr. Buffett's prescription:

"Once recover is gained ... Congress must end the rise in the debt-to-GDP ratio and keep our growth in obligations in line with our growth in resources," Buffett said. "With government expenditures now running 185 percent of receipts, truly major changes in both taxes and outlays will be required. A revived economy can't come close to bridging that sort of gap."

Major changes in both taxes and outlays? Maybe Buffett, being very wealthy, can afford more taxes. The rest of us are Taxed Enough Already!

Be glad you are not a car dealer waiting on thousands or millions of dollars in federal reimbursement for "Cash for Clunkers." Although the program has run through $1.7 billion in your tax money (on paper, at least) most dealers have seen very little reimbursement for money for which they are on the hook. One estimate is about 2 percent.

How long will it take for full reimbursement? What if it were life-saving surgery that hung in the balance?

The space program is in shambles -- more on that later -- and the Obamatrons are pointing the finger of blame at (who else?) George W. Bush for insufficiently accomplishing a space program makeover that they are reluctant to fund.

President Obama is flipping and flopping over "the public option" which is political speak for "government-run" health insurance. He knows "public option" is dead in the water unless Pelosi lines up the Blue Dogs at gunpoint in a forced vote. He also knows that the die-hard Left wants nothing less than a single-payer system and their not even very happy about the stealth version included in current legislative proposals.

This may or may not be good news for the rest of us. The best thing that can happen is nothing. The U.S. Constitution does not give Congress the authority to operate a health care insurance or delivery system. That should be the end of the discussion, Period.

Meanwhile, the president's withdrawals of troops from the cities of Iraq has led to the perception that the gates are wide open for a revival of the bombing terrorism, and so we witness events like 75 people killed and hundreds wounded throughout Baghdad overnight. We should be having a national conversation about this and Obama's ramped up operatons in Afghanistan, and if Obama were a Republican, you know we would be.

But the media is quiet. The Middle East just isn't that important, unless we're telling the Jews not to build settlements.

Hump day, indeed!