Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unveiled President Obama's budget plan to Congress this week. The plan includes $1.6 trillion in tax increases over 10 years, a request for $50 billion in stimulus dollars and a promise to address out-of-control entitlement programs next year with $400 billion in cuts.
And he did it with a straight face.
The proposal made by the President's top money man was as laughable as it was unrealistic. In return for Republicans agreeing to raise income taxes on Americans earning more than $250,000 per year and increasing the rate on capital gains and dividends, the President has offered them a promise of $400 billion in entitlement cuts beginning at some point next year, but won't specify what they might be. In other words, cave in, Republicans, on taxes and then trust the President to do what he says he will do about cutting federal spending.
Does the President propose that the extra revenue be used to cut our deficit and our growing debt? Nope. That's where the President apparently plans to find funds for "investments" in education and other pet programs (i.e., Solyndra). The problem with the President's approach is that unless government spending is controlled, the extra revenue from higher taxes brought in one door will just go out another another door, instead of cutting our annual deficit and growing national debt. The problem is that the additional revenue from punishing higher taxes is much like a single grain of sand in a sandbox full of sand representing our fast-expanding debt.
It's clear that this President refuses to take on the tough budgetary issues, such as entitlement reform. Although the President hasn't put any specific proposal to cut entitlements on the negotiating table, he promises to do this in exchange for significant tax increases almost immediately. Clearly, if America is going to begin cutting its debt and reining in entitlement programs that will soon bankrupt the country, the Republicans will have to be the adults in the room. This line from a story in the New York Times describes the Democratic strategy: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/us/politics/fiscal-talks-in-congress-seem-to-reach-impasse.html?_r=0
Senate Democratic leaders left their meeting with Mr. Geithner ecstatic. If the Republicans want additional spending cuts in that down payment, the onus is on them to put them on the table, said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader.
While the Democrats and the mainstream news media plan to blame the Republicans for any impasse that would cause painful, automatic cuts under sequestration, the truth is that the Democrats and the President haven't even begun negotiating in good faith. We're now exactly one month away from the fiscal cliff that will plunge America back into a deep recession, if not a depression.
At least now you know the truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment