Brian M. Riedl of the Heritage Foundation has a column in the Washington Times about the arguments President Obama presented with his proposed budget. It is entitled, "Obama's eight bogus budget arguments".
Riedl points out that President Obama has proposed a massive expansion of spending, taxes and debt, increasing real spending from $25,000 per household to $32,000 per household by 2019. It would raise taxes by $1.4 trillion. And it would double the national debt - a staggering $9.3 trillion in new borrowing.
But, Riedl also points out that President is a master communicator who employs clever rhetoric to defend his tax-borrow-and-spend budget. Unfortunately, this rhetoric fluctuates between misleading and false. He presents eight of Omama's bogus budget arguments:
Assertion No. 1: "I pledged to cut the deficit in half" by 2013 (after I quadrupled it first). Riedl says, "This is like eating a 5,000 calorie meal, and then pledging to halve your calories from that level"
Fact: The president doesn't mention that the deficit has quadrupled this year. Merely cutting it in half from that bloated level would still leave budget deficits twice as high as under President Bush. This is like eating a 5,000 calorie meal, and then pledging to halve your calories from that level."
"Despite Mr. Obama's talk of "inheriting" President Bush's $1.2 trillion deficit for 2009, then-Sen. Obama supported nearly all the policies that created the deficit. That deficit estimate has surged to $1.8 trillion since his inauguration. And when the recession ends, Mr. Obama would still run $1 trillion deficits - compared with President Bush's $162 billion deficit immediately before this recession."
Assertion No. 2: "We have already identified $2 trillion in savings over the next decade" (compared to a fantasy baseline that assumes the Iraq surge continues forever (which was never U.S. policy)). It's like a family "saving" $10,000 by first assuming an expensive vacation and then not taking it.
Assertion No. 3: "If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime" (which is patently false.) The president has already signed into law a 61-cent cigarette tax increase. His budget proposes a $646 billion cap-and-trade tax that would be passed onto households at an average cost of $600 to $2,000 annually.
Assertion No. 4: New spending is "temporary" to fight recession (unless you believe, as I do, that Mr. Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will not allow stimulus bill expansions, including Pell Grants, food stamps and "make-work pay," to expire.) The president's own budget already extends several expensive stimulus provisions.
Assertion No. 5: The economic "day of reckoning" was caused by a lack of liberal social policies, (but this is nonsense. The recession was caused by a financial crisis brought on by a housing bubble.) The President argues that national health care, energy taxes and education spending would have prevented this recession (but, they didn't save Europe from the same financial calamities.)
Assertion No. 6: "A return to honest budgeting" (Mr. Obama deserves credit for reversing Mr. Bush's policy of not budgeting for the Alternative Minimum Tax patch, the global war on terrorism, and future unanticipated emergencies, but the Obama budget has large gimmicks, too.)
In addition to the $1.5 trillion Iraq "savings" trick described above, the president ignores the economic consensus and assumes an economic boom will begin next January, assumes that - after a 7 percent increase next year - real discretionary spending will be frozen for the following nine years, and he simply excludes the cost of his massive health plan from his budget totals.
Assertion No. 7: A new direction from Mr. Bush's "deep fiscal irresponsibility" (but Mr. Obama is actually accelerating many of Mr. Bush's policies, including a massive spending spree, large financial bailouts, and big deficits.)
Assertion No. 8: Agenda reflects "hard choices." (promising voters huge new federal subsidies - paid for by doubling the national debt - isn't exactly a profile in courage. Instead, it is the most fiscally irresponsible budget in American history.) Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC
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Comments: 13
How to tell if a politician is lying......their lips are moving!
***The government will have to borrow nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year, exploding the record federal deficit past $1.8 trillion under new White House estimates. Budget office figures released Monday would add $89 billion to the 2009 red ink - increasing it to more than four times last year's all-time high as the government hands out billions more than expected for people who have lost jobs and takes in less tax revenue from people and companies making less money.***
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090512/D984FCB80.html
John, if I had to borrow (and pay interest on) 50% of what I needed to spend this year, it is hard to see that as a strategy for prosperity. And, if on top of that problem, I hadn't saved enough for my retirement and health care expenses, I'd think I was in real trouble. I think the U.S. is in real trouble!
Paula, thanks.
Are we any better off when a Democrat is lying to us instead of a Republican?
I am conservative, but I read the New York Times. I don't want to get my news only from people who agree with me. I also like to talk with people who challenge my thinking.
HEY...we only have 3.7 years to go!! OMG
~M