Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh gave a blunt assessment on his Thursday program of how the government is handling the nation's finances.

The 62-year-old radio personality stated that he was "ashamed" of his country for the lack of fiscal discipline in Washington and the media coverage of the current budget negotiations in Congress.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country," Limbaugh said.

He also claimed that politicians and analysts are using scare tactics to resist the prospect of cutting $44 billion from the federal budget by means of sequestration. 

"Seriously man, here we get worked up over $44 billion. That's the total amount of money that will not be spent that was scheduled to be spent this year. ... In truth, we're going to spend more this year than we spent last year. We're just not going to spend as much as projected."

He made the statements while discussing the automatic spending cuts that will hit federal budgets at the end of this month. Congress and the White House are engaged in discussions to offset these cuts that will take effect March 1, according to Politico.

Limbaugh blamed the media for what he claimed was a buildup of mass hysteria over the impending changes to the national budget.

The radio host accused President Obama of pointing fingers at Congress, with focus on Republicans, for confusing his plans to help middle-class Americans by proposing cuts in planned spending.

Limbaugh claimed that the nation's economic irresponsibility has taken place for far too long.

 "Nothing ever changes. We just keep spending more money. We create more dependency. We get more and more irresponsible, one crisis to the next - all of them manufactured, except for the real crisis nobody ever addresses, which is [that] we can't afford any of this."

 

 

Tags: Rush Limbaugh President Obama sequestration