We are in the political season. I am not a big fan of elections or politics in general. I think the problem is it gets dumbed down into sound bites and the like.

There is a line out there that the Democrats want to tax and spend and the Republicans want to borrow and spend. Other than that, I do not see much of a difference.

The problems are not the shallow sound bites that you hear on TV or read on liberal or conservative blogs. President Barack Obama is a socialist! Mitt Romney just wants to help his rich buddies! George W. Bush was eight years of failed policies, etc.

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There is enough blame to go around. The real problem is that instead of structurally changing the American economy to invest in engineering and productivity, all we did was encourage debt, spending and housing. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were used by the left to allow the poor to buy houses they could not afford, and financial deregulation was used by the right to allow Wall Street to run amok with financial engineering at the expense of the rest of the country.

Below is a chart courtesy of Pimco.com about the growth of private debt in the last 60 years. This includes both Republican and Democratic governments. America was living beyond its means. That was the problem!

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The bubble blew up under George W. Bush. However, Bill Clinton does not deserve the moniker of the “boom president.” Under Clinton, the bubble just got bigger. The 90s were not real prosperity. The 90s were based on personal debt growing larger, loose monetary policy and a bogus Internet bubble that blew up.

George W. Bush spent and cut taxes, which made problems worse when the financial crisis hit. Obama inherited a mess; however, he just made the mess

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His stimulus was a waste of time and money mostly went to union buddies or unproductive welfare and unemployment schemes. Infrastructure or a real energy plan could have been created to get the country from relying on foreign oil. Instead, we got welfare and food stamps. And Obama had a Democratic Congress for his first two years, so he has no one to blame but himself.

What is needed is a real debate. Is either candidate talking about entitlement reform, reducing the size of the American empire or getting the country off foreign oil? No, no and no. It is a shallow debate.

Until the country starts to talk about real issues and not about Obama’s birth certificate or how much Romney pays in taxes, we will continue on the path to nowhere.

About the Author: David Skarica David Skarica is a member of the Moneynews Financial Brain Trust. Click Here to read more of his articles. He also writes the Gold Stock Adviser. Discover more by Clicking Here Now.