Looks like he is going for the whole enchilada early. I’m thinking that Wall Street will be very unhappy, but it appears that the view from Dailykos is happy enough, calling it “mighty progressive”.
“President Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on businesses and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said.
In addition to tackling a deficit swollen by the $787 billion stimulus package and other efforts to ease the nation’s economic crisis, the budget blueprint will press aggressively for progress on the domestic agenda Obama outlined during the presidential campaign. This would include key changes to environmental policies and a major expansion of health coverage that he hopes to enact later this year.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/21/AR2009022100911_pf.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------WaPo: Obama to raise taxes on wealthy, “wind down” war by SusanG Sat Feb 21, 2009 at 01:40:04 PM PST
The Washington Post has a sneak preview of the budget President Obama will unveil Tuesday, and on a first quick read, it looks mighty progressive.http://dailykos.com/
I’m not a big fan of a plan that is contingent on reducing war spending. Sound foreign policy and sound military policy should be based on the best way to accomplish the desired goal, not on how to save money. If we are able to draw down in Iraq because our goals have been met, that’s great. However, we shouldn’t draw down just because it’s expensive, and we shouldn’t committ to some sort of dollar figure. When we do that, what usually ends up happening is we still spend lots of money in the war, because you can’t get away with taking money away from troops on the front lines, and we have to take that money from forces back home, which reduces their readiness.
There are plenty of legitimate ways to reduce waste and spending in the DoD, and I would prefer someone do that rather than tying our war efforts to some sort of budget goal.
so a few days after he signs the largest single spending plan in the history of mankind he comes out and starts talking about balancing the budget and cutting back??!?! WTF?? He is like a drunk the morning after going on a bender who feels remorse for falling off the wagon the night before.
I couldn’t agree with your post more. Even if we do cut back on spending in Iraq, the build-up of forces in Afghanistan will likely make it a wash in the end. Having worked in acquisition for 4 years now, there are plenty of places to do things smarter and cheaper. We also still have more base infrastructure than we need, but Congress will fight any more base closings tooth and nail.
The real numbers for this budget are more in the several trillion range, and govt. sets up a system of cap and trade giving them even more power over winners and losers in business, and more corruption opportunities. Sounds as if the military WILL take the biggest beating while Obama is in power. And of course again, business will not be happy, wall street will slip on the cap-and-trade news. Obama governing as a leftist was predictable and predicted, but many seemed to think that in these times he would have no choice but to work from the middle, and voted accordingly.
“The administration official said Obama plans to pursue deficit reduction by cutting spending on defense, an area with “significant” opportunities for savings. Agriculture subsidies also are targeted for reductions, with the administration pushing to phase out payments to farmers earning more than $500,000 annually.”
“The spending plan assumes the government would begin taking in at least $75 billion in 2012 from a cap-and-trade system that requires companies to buy credits if they exceed greenhouse-gas limits. That money would be used to invest in clean-energy technology and also help offset higher energy costs for lower-and middle-income Americans, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.”
***President Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on businesses and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said. ***
He fails 2d grade math…he can’t even add and subtract.
You cannot reduce a deficit simply be diverting spending from one area (the war in Iraq) to another. Estimates vary as to the cost of the war in Iraq…but seem to average around $10 billion per month. While I agree that that’s a helluva lot of money, it’s less than 20% of the cost associated with the socialized healthcare provisions of the budget alone.
**
As to increasing the taxes on the “wealthy”, I’ve heard it said (have not confirmed) that you could take every dime earned by every individual earning over $250k per year and still fall far short of meeting his goal. Of course, if…strike that, make it when…he redefines “wealthy”, that could change.
As to increasing taxes on businesses…can someone please tell the class what happens to the price that consumers pay for goods and services when the expenses associated with producing those goods and providing those services increases?
Anyone who thinks that only wealthy individuals and businesses will be footing the bill for this *unconscionable *spending is either stupid or ignorant. Take your pick.