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Obama Budget: Lots of Tax Hikes, Little Deficit Progress

By W. James Antle, III on 2.13.12 @ 4:23PM

James Pethokoukis supplies more reasons to dislike the Obama budget:

All in all, Obama has proposed some $1.6 trillion in new taxes over ten years, taking tax revenue as a share of GDP to 20.1 percent in 2022 vs. a historical average of 18 percent. And despite all those new taxes, Obama's plan would still add $6.7 trillion in new debt and make no progress in lowering the nation's total debt levels as a share of output. The debt-to-GDP ratio is predicted to be 74.2 percent this year and 76.5 percent in 2022.

At the same time, federal spending would never fall below 22 percent of GDP. Indeed, Obama - if he serves two terms - would be the first U.S. president in history to spend 22.0 percent or more of GDP for eight straight years (and then beyond). And keep in mind that these debt and spending numbers claim about $850 billion in savings from unwinding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, spending about a quarter of those phony "savings" on highway funding.

This specific budget is almost certainly dead on arrival, since it can't pass the Republican-controlled House and probably won't get many votes even in the Democratic-run Senate. But it does illuminate the president's budget priorities. It also reminds us that his party is committed to a permanent increase in the size and cost of the federal government.

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

Roger| 2.13.12 @ 4:32PM

Time to get serious about someone who will beat Obama. In my view that man is Virginia governor McDonnell. He is conservative,yet has won over huge amounts of indies and moderates. In addition,he was able to secure a large amount of black votes. Time for a brokered covention.

RJ| 2.13.12 @ 7:03PM

I don't see how a political party can ignore every state caucus and primary and nominate someone who is not a candidate. It would seriously undercut the legitimacy of the process. We have also seen how many good speaking candidates flamed out once they were on center stage before the national media. It would be too big a risk to take a chance on an untested nominee. McDonnell has only been Governor for slightly more than two years. He isn't ready yet.

Mike 3/505| 2.13.12 @ 8:51PM

We need to think about what we do when we take over the Senate and POTUS...Current budgets, taxes and regulations are symptoms of a greater disease...ever increasing Federal government control of individuals and their ability to resist. We need to appoint very conservative SCOTUS. We need to eliminate the Federal government's ability to freeze a person's bank account absent a CONVICTION in court. By controlling the money, the Federal government obviates the ability of individuals, states and businesses to resist Federal overreach.

beebop2| 2.14.12 @ 5:41AM

The voter base that believes this was a "budget" believe that your scooter chair is free. They think that their grocery store gives them "free gas," and that the "government" has money to give away. But I think the tide is turning. My local democrat approved "news"paper has more comments that indicate that people GET IT than not. We can only hope and keep trying to inform the misinformed.

Hobbes| 2.14.12 @ 10:30AM

'A condition of perpetual warfare has left the US more or less bankrupt, a state of affairs that can be sustained only as long as China chooses to fund the federal debt. Stagnant for a generation, the standard of living of the majority is falling and the country's infrastructure rotting away. Increasingly the US resembles Latin America some decades ago.' John Gray