Trickery Behind Obama’s 2011 Budget

February 4, 2010 RSS Feed Print
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By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

As my bloleague John A. Farrell wrote here Wednesday, there are a few things in President Barack Obama's FY 2011 budget proposal worth saluting. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good. Obama and the Democrats in Congress have proposed an increase in the federal debt limit of $1.9 trillion--or just over $6,500 per person--making it the largest debt limit increase in U.S. history. And, points out House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, that's on top of two other increases in the debt limit in the past 12 months that total $1.079 trillion.

If that were not enough, an analysis prepared by the nonpartisan National Taxpayers' Union Foundation says Obama's budget document is loaded with "recycled program cuts," "tax hikes masquerading as spending cuts," and "spending hikes masquerading as tax cuts."

  • The budget lists cuts and reductions to 78 discretionary programs totaling $10.3 billion annually. Of these, NTUF says, 24 (representing $4.5 billion in savings) were already included in the FY 2009 list of savings and terminations--meaning Congress has already rejected them once.
  • The budget includes 25 mandatory program changes producing a claimed savings of $47.2 billion over five years; $19.2 billion of the total comes from the repeal of 12 energy-related tax credits--which, NTUF says, are more properly classified as revenue increases rather than spending cuts.
  • The budget shows that federal outlays will increase by $67.5 billion over the period 2011-2015 strictly because of proposed changes in tax policy, including $13.8 billion to "reform and extend Build America bonds" and $547 million to "extend COBRA health insurance premium assistance." The remainder of the $67.5 billion is for "refundable" credits--which are not exactly the same thing as tax cuts.

"As hard as the White House tries to reassure Americans about the nation's finances, taxpayers have many reasons to be afraid--very afraid--that President Obama's team won't fare any better at controlling deficit spending than the Bush administration did," NTUF Senior Policy Analyst Demian Brady said. "Americans will find a mostly gloomy fiscal horizon ahead for their country if the president's proposals become law."

 

Corrected on 02/05/10: An earlier version of this article misstated the fiscal year for the president's budget proposal. The correct year is FY2011.

Tags:
deficit and national debt,
federal budget,
Barack Obama

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All the self-proclaimed financial experts are crying for budget cuts in our domestic programs which hurt the very people who pay into the system (i.e., social security, medicare, etc). My question is, why don't we start with slashing all foreign aid to zero until we get our own house in order? Instead, I am watching our leaders give away trillions to foreign governments and the United Nations in order to make themselves feel important to the rest of the world while we pick up the tab. A recent example, Hillary is promising we will rebuild Haiti. With what? Just think we could also stop all the foreign travel (family junkets) that our congress declares important to do their job to protect and defend US.

Fran of TX 12:42PM February 20, 2010

For years I've heard radio announcers, liberals and professional individuals complain about how the government supports and runs the social security system and about the recipients who recieve the S.S. benefits. To hear these cry babies, a person could swear that it was money taken from their pockets and given to street beggers rather than the seniors that are entitled to the benefits. But what bothers me are the individuals that complain the most, are professionals in their field and very ignorant about the S.S. system, because they have already achieved a comfortable economic level that through education or NEPOTISM they feel they have the right to critize others that are not as fortunate as they. Millions of Americans that are receiving S.S. are seniors that had contributed like taxes, into the system for years by having a portion of their salary deducted and deposited into the program. At one time when the seniors were younger and probably needed the money for what they considered more important issues they may have also complained about the S.S. system and that the monies that were being deducted from their salaries was being wasted by the government. But what many of these individuals don't understand is that the monies deposited into the S.S. fund belongs to the depositor and is not to be used by the government for any other purpose. The S.S. program is a retirement plan, and monies from the fund is to be returned to the depositor when it is time for them to retire. And considering that only recently there have been a surge of millions of dollars stolen in retirement funds by unscrupulous individuals and investment organizations that have been bailed out by the government I'm certain that many retired seniors who at one time may have complained about the S.S. system are thankful, though they may not be affluant or wealthy that their benefits are still intact. But there is also credence in what many Americans complain about. Because .. it is true that there are many organizations, that sponsor foreigners who have not contributed one dime into the S.S. fund but are yet receiving benefits that they and their families are not entitled to by taking advantage of the American system. Unlike welfare .. everyone whether American or not can get onto the rolls. All the applicant has to do is show evidence that they are either sponsored or unable to work because of some physical or mental ailment that impedes their being employed on a permanent basis. WHAT A BUNCH OF CROCK!!! Have you seen some of the people on welfare? Drug addicts (that buy drugs rather than feeding and clothing their children), pimps, prostitutes, street hustlers, boyfriends and girlfriends that live off the recipients welfare checks. And foreigners fresh off the boat that complain about America and the way we live, and who distance themselves from us. But are always in the welfare lines to TAKE THE AMERICAN DOLLAR! That's where your tax dollars go. Think about it!!!

BORN AMERICAN of CA 6:35PM February 07, 2010

After watching a documentary on T. V. about global warming I learned that the last ice age,as explained by scientists, was caused by volcanoes and earth quakes that precipitated an earthquake and meteorites. Both cause huge amounts of debris to be blasted into the upper atmosphere and this blocks out the sunlight from reaching the surface of the earth. So at the risk of sounding like chicken little and declare that the sky is falling we better be sure we don't cool the earth to much and then have a massive volcano drop our temp enough to cause another ice age. Do we really know how to control the temp of the earth when it can go into another ice age by one big volcanic blast or one big meteor strike? One massive volcanic explosion and our effect on the temperature of the earth will seem rather insignificant!

Lee Hansen of MI 9:22PM February 06, 2010

Peter Roff

Peter Roff

Peter Roff is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report. Formerly a senior political writer for United Press International, he’s now affiliated with several public policy organizations including Let Freedom Ring, and Frontiers of Freedom. His writing has appeared in National Review, Fox News’ opinion section, The Daily Caller, Politico and elsewhere. Follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff.

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