Obama released his new budget today and it is clearly irresponsible foolishness. Despite his own big talk about "tough choices and sacrifices" government grows everywhere as far as the eye can see.
Associated Press: WASHINGTON – Putting on the brakes after two years of big spending increases, President Barack Obama unveiled a $3.7 trillion budget plan Monday that would freeze or reduce some safety-net programs for the nation's poor but turn aside Republican demands for more drastic cuts to shrink the government to where it was before he took office.
The 10-year blueprint makes "tough choices and sacrifices," Obama said in his official budget message. Yet the plan, which sets the stage for this week's nasty congressional fight over cuts in the budget year that's already more than one-third over, steers clear of deeply controversial long-term problem areas such as Social Security andMedicare.
The budget relies heavily on the recovering economy, tax increases and rosy economic assumptions to estimate that the federal deficit would drop from this year's record $1.6 trillion — an astronomical figure that requires the government to borrow 43 cents out of every dollar it spends — to about $600 billion after five years.[...]
Despite his spending cuts and tax increases, the government's total debt would still mushroom from $14.2 trillion now to almost $21 trillion by 2016. Republicans assailed his blueprint for failing to take the lead on the nation's daunting fiscal problems.
There are no serious cuts here, there is no serious attempt to cut spending and there is no serious attempt to shrink government. What Obama has put forth is a very transparent attempt to play politics.
Power Line: Obama's game is transparent, isn't it? He is playing a game of chicken. He puts forward a series of proposals that he knows are more or less insane; but he also believes that Republicans will come to his rescue. They, not being wholly irresponsible, will come up with plans to reform entitlements--like, for example, the Ryan Roadmap. Ultimately, some combination of those plans will be implemented because the alternative is the collapse, not just of the government of the United States, but of the country itself. But Obama thinks the GOP's reforms will be unpopular, and he will be able to demagogue them, thus having his cake and eating it too. Is that leadership? Of course not. But it is the very essence of Barack Obama.
If Republicans are smart, they will make sure to demagogue Obama good and plenty for his irresponsibility before coming to the rescue with a much saner plan. Many Americans are finally coming around to the idea that America is on the edge of collapse. Now is the time to make sure they know exactly who is driving us there.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: Associated Press
Via: Power Line
Video h/t: The Washington Post