Seizing the Future: Budget battle in Washington; Obama: “Live within our means”…by spending into oblivion
Oh, no. It’s another White House White Board (click here for Austan Goolsbee’s turn last week).
Here, OMB Director Jack Lew tells you how spending into oblivion “while still investing in the future” = fiscal responsibility.
With Obama math, anything’s possible:
Takeaway sentence from ABC News’s description of the Obama budget unveiled today:
$3.73 trillion. $1.6 trillion deficit this year alone. $7 trillion in deficits over 10 years
“Austerity” my you-know-what.
Here is the actual 1,343-page budget proposal.
Lefties are huffing and puffing at what little the White House has proposed to cut:
Obama’s new budget puts forward a plan to achieve $1.1 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade, according to an administration official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity in advance of the formal release of the budget.
Those cuts — roughly $100 billion each year — include squeezing social programs. A deal struck to extend the Bush tax cuts for just two years, meanwhile, increased the deficit by $858 billion dollars. More than $500 billion of that bargain constituted tax cuts, with billions more funding business tax breaks and a reduction in the estate tax. Roughly $56 billion went to reauthorize emergency unemployment benefits.
The president’s budget was expected to mostly target “non-defense discretionary spending,” which makes up less than one-quarter of the overall budget, making balancing the budget with such cuts mathematically impossible…
Flashback: Microscopic cuts depicted in Doug Ross’s Chart of the Day last week.
OMB director Jack Lew is complaining of “ a lot of pain” — more political, of course, than fiscal:
“What I would tell you about this budget is it has a lot of pain…it does the job, it cuts the deficit in half by the end of the president’s first term, it has $400 billion of savings which would bring spending on domestic discretionary spending down to the level it was at in the Eisenhower administration and we have made tough choices,” he said on “GMA.”
Interestingly, Lew took a pass on criticizing the $61 billion in budget cuts House Republicans are hoping to pass this year – even though I asked him twice. Because the White House knows they will almost certainly have to accept many of those cuts to avoid a government shutdown later this year. The first test could come when current government funding runs out on March 4.
On the third rail of massive entitlements, Obama says “You go first” to the GOP. Leadership:
The budget wouldn’t do much, though, to arrest a future spike in the projected costs of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Mr. Obama has said he’s open to making changes in these programs, but he wants cooperation from Republicans before he will begin.
Speaker Boehner is ready for battle: Obama’s budget will “Destroy Jobs By Spending Too Much, Borrowing Too Much, and Taxing Too Much.”
He dubbed the White House plan “Spending the Future.”
Seizing the Future, actually…
***
As the progs hammer away at the cost of the “Bush tax cuts,” GOP leaders still need to forcefully challenge the redistributor-in-chief’s idea that allowing taxpayers to keep money that is theirs to begin with is a government “spend.”
Where to cut: Cato’s agency-by-agency breakdown.
Update 10:30am: From Obama’s remarks this morning, he asserted it is “absolutely essential that we live within our means.”
But the budget egg he laid today sabotages that very principle.
***
On a depressing fair and balanced note: GOP fails on entitlements, too.
***
Update 9 p.m. (DP): Big suprise — Zero cuts to NPR funding:
Despite calls from conservatives and a bipartisan committee to cut federal funding of Corporation for Public Broadcasting, President Obama’s 2012 budget — released Monday — preserves the money that supports it.
Obama’s proposal includes $445 million in general programming grants for CPB in 2012, 2013 and 2014 — up from $430 million in 2011.
See what others have said
Note from Michelle: This section is for comments from michellemalkin.com's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that I agree with or endorse any particular comment just because I let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with my terms of use may lose his or her posting privilege.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
 |
Who’s funding Brett Kimberlin?
May 25, 2012 01:52 PM by Michelle Malkin
22 CommentsObama’s Land of the LOST
May 25, 2012 01:42 PM by Michelle Malkin
42 CommentsObama’s latest campaign angle: I’ve been saving America from wild Republican debts
May 24, 2012 04:33 PM by Doug Powers
48 Comments
Senate finally passes a budget approves bill striking word ‘lunatic’ from federal law
May 24, 2012 11:22 AM by Doug Powers
193 CommentsStammertime: Jay Carney asked if Chicago protests have soured Obama’s support for OWS
May 23, 2012 07:44 PM by Doug Powers
54 Comments
S.E. Cupp, Hustler, and the four stages of conservative female abuse
May 23, 2012 02:13 PM by Michelle Malkin
142 CommentsBiden: Tea Party stopped us from growing the economy
May 23, 2012 01:55 PM by Doug Powers
44 Comments
Pig Maher’s boy Bill Burton mocks my support of Hatch challenger Dan Liljenquist
May 23, 2012 11:37 AM by Michelle Malkin
32 CommentsFree speech blogburst: Show solidarity for targeted conservative bloggers; Update: It’s Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day; Donation fund for targets
May 23, 2012 05:59 AM by Michelle Malkin
111 Comments
Babalu Blog
» U.S. Manned Space Flight in The 21st CenturyVillainous Company
» Must Read Post of the Day. Possibly, the YearRedstate
» Kimberlin’s Associates Caught on Tape?
It’s not a matter of being politically correct just for the sake of being politically correct. It’s a matter of boosting your credibility by avoiding comments which are obviously partisan.
But Corkie…I AM obviously partisan. I have never pretended otherwise. But I will consider myself soundly chastized by you.
*Entitlements is the place to start; All else is just nibbling around the edges while the train is heading over the cliff.
*And if the GOP does not hold their ground and refuse to raise the debt ceiling, we will know that we can’t trust Bailout Bob Corker, Paul Ryan, or any others that have chosen to just talk the talk, then punt just like P-BO.
*After that, it will be time to give those in DC an “Egyptian Notice”, starting with the occupants of the White House!
Well, if a $1.5T deficit for one year and projected deficits in the same ramge for as far into the future as we can imagine qualifies as living within our means, my next call is to my credit card company to let them know I am taking a cue from Obama and putting a Lear jet, a Rolls Royce, and a beachfront condo on my plastic. And yes, I would expect them to honor the “nothing down, $100 a month in perpetuity plan” so I can continue to afford to live within my means.
So far, I haven’t heard a single word that gives me hope that ANY of them get it! Soon it won’t matter what we cut. It won’t be enough. It may already be too late. Raise the retirement age, get rid of obamacare, get all the deadbeats off the dole, kick the illegals out of our country (they are bleeding us dry), stop foreign aid to countries that hate us, start drilling, digging, putting up fences. Crack down on medicare fraud…big time!! Pass tort reform. All of this is doable and urgent. Get going, Congress…we are dying!
And while it lasted, you were spending your money which was earned from your efforts, not other people’s that you provided less than full value to receive. The “drunken sailor” analogy is wrong on many levels.
They are going to raise the debt limit. They think they have no choice. Just like TARP.
Real cuts must be made and Congress will not do it. No one has proposed shutting one federal agency, let alone Department. Half of the federal government exceeds the Constitution.
Sooner or later the printing presses won’t be able to keep up.
Happyscrapper for President!
If we Americans don’t rise up and do some serious house cleaning in November 2012, WE ARE DONE as a nation. It’s time to cut the foreign “investments” and bring our money back home. It’s time to cut the planned parenthood national holocaust. It’s time to cut Amtrak, PBS, NPR, and a whole host of other money-sucking-but-giving-naught-in-return-leftist “departments” that are nothing, do nothing, and add nothing to culture and society, and start refinancing the government budget. GOP/Tea Partiers in Congress and the Senate, get some guts and do the RIGHT thing or start takin’ out “Looking For work” Ads in the Local Paper. I’m sick of politics, and want no more if it. Work, or leave. Simple as that…..
Well, I would run, but happyscrapper doesn’t have any NAME RECOGNITION! Even you don’t know who I am!
I forgot one more thing…don’t let any more mooslum immigrants into this country. There is no such thing as a moderate mooslum. They are overrunning Europe and we are next. THIS.MUST.STOP!
I know that, and you know that. But you can pretend to be neutral and simply calling it like you see it.
That wasn’t my intention. I shouldn’t have mentioned anything. I’ve been reading your comments a long time and enjoy seeing you fired up and supporting Michelle.
Happyscrapper can never pretend to be neutral! What you read is what you get.
Thanks. That is nice of you to say. I enjoy your comments too!! Even when you “scold” me!
Now, this old lady must get some sleep! G’night.
Absolutely! Why spend OUR money on thugs that dance in the streets when our countrymen are murdered? Why spend OUR money on thugs that smile in our face while sticking a knife in our back, particularly at that USELESS organization, the UN? Why spend OUR money on thug countries that are now currently driving down our currency by publicly pushing for a new global currency?
Yeah, you frogs, I’m looking at YOU!
As for spending cuts…
Remember when Urkel was first immaculated? He started shoveling money at all kinds of leftist activities in the form of grants or other similar targeted funding through various federal agencies.
Agency budgets can be cut, but I would like to see what happens with all these stupid federally funded grant programs (leftist jobs programs) after this budget. Somehow I think I can safely bet that every one of them will continue…agency heads will just raid other parts of their budgets to continue them.
NASA may have their budget cut, but I bet if they are funding some Muslim outreach program, that funding will continue.
Oh great. I make some comments in support of her candidacy and she bails out and goes to bed.
Fine!
Actulaly this could be technically correct, IF you include the sale of T-bills to fund the deficit as revenue and don’t include interest payments and payments for redemed T-bills as well. The liberals in Hollywood are the best creative accountants there are. It may not be in any way true, but that has never been a problem for any administration, especially the Obama administration.
It is a game and will always be a game. Sock Puppet completely disregarded his so called deficit commission and their recommendations. The Sock Puppet and his regime know full well what needs to be done but kicked this can into the Repub court. Two things will happen, nothing, or the Repubs really do walk the walk and cut where cuts need to be made and roll back spending to 2007 levels. The Socialist Democrat playbook will be opened then and out will come the Grandmas will be eating dog food, the children will die from starvation and disease, America will crumble into dust and it will be the Republicans fault.
More accurate
Happy, just follow my motto:
If nominated, I will not run!
If elected, I will not serve!
If impeached, I will not leave!
I was having a disagreement with a friend of mine who said that because the money is borrowed and only a portion has to be paid back each period instead of the entire amount all at once, that the deficit doesn’t really cost as much as the numbers indicate. Needless to say, my friend is a liberal.
One of those with an “interest only” mortgage, huh?
With a whopping balloon payment somewhere down the road? And I don’t believe our nation’s “mortgage” holders have any desire for any re-fi that would benefit us, unless it includes a complete takeover of our assets.
Very FIRST thing, is to bring non Military Govenment worker Salarys inline with Non Government worker salarys…
That right there would cut 3 or 4% off the total budget.
Nowhere in the sycophant MSM will you see this chart: Here
I still don’t fet this logic that you can spend yourself out of debt, sounds like I can dig myself out of a grave by digging it deeper. And how is it the people in DC can do this and like nothing happens. If I had a loan for a shop I ran and it was running into debt and the bank wanted me to come in to foreclose and I tried using HALF of what DC has I’ld be laughed out of the building with only my shirt.
Do they really think we are that stupid? Heck are some of us that stupid?
One of two things is going to happen in America in the very near future.
1. Our conservative leaders grow a pair or have a back bone inserted and cut the hell out the budget, cutting dept.s and programs along the way. Hurting and being very painful to the majority of Americans for a number of years. But in the end saving our country, actually after dumping worthless programs like dept. ED. and EPA, America will become stronger, more powerful in defense and economics than it ever was.
or
2. The Repukes will keep looking for shrunken gonads while going along with the unicorns and rainbow dreamers over the horizon and the country will be destroyed. We haven’t seen the poverty, disease and corruption that will follow the ending of the greatest country in history. Talk about hurt and pain.
There will be no place to go to be saved, we are the last chance for freedom.