McCain can't balance his own budget

Newly released financial documents show that multi-millionaire John McCain can't even balance his family budget.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his wife reported more than $100,000 of credit card liabilities, according to financial disclosure documents released Friday.

The presidential candidate and his wife Cindy reported piling up debt on a charge card between $10,000 and $15,000. His wife’s solo charge card has between $100,000 and $250,000 in debt to American Express.

Another charge card with American Express, this one for a “dependent child,” is carrying debt in the range of $15,000 and $50,000.

Reckless indebtedness during a year in which Cindy McCain sold one of their 10 or so residences for a profit of more than a million dollars. That is a pretty sure sign of financial irresponsibility. By contrast, documents for the far less wealthy Obama family show that they have no credit card debt. Quite the opposite, the Obamas have set aside funds for their daughters' college education.

By piling up credit card debt when he can easily afford to pay it off, McCain finally has convinced me that he was speaking the truth (for once) when he said last December, "The issue of economics is something that I've really never understood as well as I should." This is the man who wants to lead the US at a time when the the federal debt (PDF) has reached record levels - thanks to the reckless fiscal policies of George Bush, which McCain would continue.

Little wonder then that McCain has also been all over the map regarding a balanced federal budget and the state of the US economy. Characteristically, McCain is both for and against making it a priority to balance the federal budget.

McCain promised he’d offer a balanced budget by the end of his first term.  Feb. 15, 2008

Mr. McCain — who said in February in Wisconsin that he would balance the budget by the end of his first term as president — seemed to reconsider that on Tuesday, saying at a news conference later in Villanova that “economic conditions are reversed” and that he would have a balanced budget within eight years.  April 15, 2008

John McCain will not leave office without balancing the federal budget. He will not do it with smoke and mirrors. When he leaves office, he wants to leave a budget that stays balanced after he is gone...  April 15, 2008 press release

Republican John McCain said yesterday that cutting taxes and stimulating the economy are more important than balancing the budget...  April 20, 2008

Confused? So is John McCain.

Update [2008-6-13 22:42:24 by smintheus]: It turns out that the McCain family has a sweet deal with AmEx, which carries their massive credit card debt at 0% interest. h/t Lucid Iguana.