10,000 Pennies

A quick glance at the $3.5 Trillion federal budget shows how incomprehensible these figures are. This link shows President Obama's summary tables - the simplest presentation you can find at whitehouse.gov. It's basically a barrage of information, links to complex documents and a labyrinth of tables. All under the overall title of responsibility and compassion.

10,000 pennies - Matt Shapiro's youtube visualizations - gives a much clearer picture of the reality of where our new President's plans are taking us, with clear language like: "this is money we have - this is money we don't have." That first video demonstrates the scale of Obama's commitment to trim $100 million from the budget in 90 days.

This video is a fantastic presentation of the deficit - shown in miles per hour (to stand for dollars over budget per year). It demonstrates the tragic reality of the recent President Bush's departure from true conservatism as he actually accelerated the deficit and debt to unheard of proportions. But even more it reveals that Mr. Obama intends to put the pedal to the floor (he already has, in fact), driving us headlong into sheer economic disaster.

Employment reality - Politicians always make promises and rarely deliver. The stimulus package is that principle elevated to unimaginable proportions. It promised to save millions of jobs. The pennies tell the true story.

Over 200 years ago Thomas Jefferson argued for strong states against the Federalists who wanted to centralize control. President Jefferson, like all of us, had his vices and blindspots - but in this I believe he was absolutely right on. Now more than ever true conservatives must raise the clarion cry for strong states and begin the transformation of our bloated and terminally ill federal government before it brings our great nation to its knees.