These two stories indicate that Obama just isn’t serious about limiting spending and deficits. The first is about how President is trying to earn some credibility for fiscal responsibility.
President Barack Obama sought on Tuesday to show he was serious about improving the U.S. budget picture as he called on Congress to pass new limits on tax cuts and spending programs to avoid adding to deficits.
Obama urged passage of “pay-as-you-go” legislation that would require any new tax cut or automatic spending program to be paid for within the budget.
“The ‘pay as you go’ principle is very simple. Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere,” Obama said in a speech at the White House attended by several Democratic members of Congress.
“Entitlement increases and tax cuts need to be paid for. They are not free,” said Obama, who has been criticized by Republicans for proposing a hefty domestic agenda that includes overhauling the health care system, bolstering education and tackling global climate change.
Now that isn’t too bad, although taking it too far could be bad if it leads to a situation like in California where the state is having to cut spending at precisely the wrong time.
This next bit is rather amusing,
“The reckless fiscal policies of the past have left us in a very deep hole,” Obama said. “Digging our way out will take time and patience and tough choices.”
Indeed and considering President Obama’s own role in creating these reckless fiscal policies I guess he knows what he is talking about. And yes, to be sure it isn’t all Obama’s fault, but his budget this year does rack up a rather impressive deficit by just about any measure.
Then we get the second article that has President Obama saying that don’t worry that “pay-as-you-go” thing, well not for health care. For health care, borrow as much as you want.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed budget rules that would allow Congress to borrow tens of billions of dollars and put the nation deeper in debt to jump-start the administration’s emerging health care overhaul.
The “pay-as-you-go” budget formula plan is significantly weaker than a proposal Obama issued with little fanfare last month.
It would carve out about $2.5 trillion worth of exemptions for Obama’s priorities over the next decade. His health care reform plan also would get a green light to run big deficits in its early years. But over a decade, Congress would have to come up with money to cover those early year deficits.
Guess he didn’t want that fiscal responsibility credibility anyways.
The federal deficit is on pace to explode past $1.8 trillion this year, more than four times last year’s all-time high. The record borrowing is credited with pushing up interest rates, which could imperil chances for a recovery later in the year.
