17 Mar 2009 Outrage of the Day: President Obama’s Budget
The following comes entirely from Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation:
President Obama has released a budget that would:
* Increase spending by $1 trillion over the next decade;
* Include an additional $250 billion placeholder for another financial bailout;
* Likely lead to a 12 percent increase in discretionary spending;
* Permanently expand the federal government by nearly 3 percent of GDP over pre-recession levels;
* Raise taxes on all Americans by $1.4 trillion over the next decade;
* Raise taxes for 3.2 million taxpayers by an average of $300,000 over the next decade;
* Call for a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) law despite offering a budget that would violate it by $3.4 trillion;
* Assume a rosy economic scenario that few economists anticipate;
* Leave permanent deficits averaging $600 billion even after the economy recovers; and
* Double the publicly-held national debt to over $15 trillion ($12.5 trillion after inflation).
Federal spending was $24,000 per household before the recession. President Obama would raise it to $32,000 per household by 2019 (after inflation).
President Obama harshly criticized President Bush’s budgets. Yet his budget actually *accelerates* Bush’s policies – more runaway spending, more bailouts, and even bigger deficits.
The President is not repudiating Bushism – he’s doubling down on it.
“The Obama Budget: Spending, Taxes, and Doubling the National Debt” can be found at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg2249.cfm(click the .pdf icon for the printable version).
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Labels: Economics, Government Spending, Taxes, White House