The President’s Budget – A Defining Moment

 

 This article was featured in The Bulletin (Philadelphia-area newspaper) on 3/26/09. See the newspaper version here. 

“The practical implication of this is bankruptcy for the United States.”

-Senator Judd Gregg on President Obama’s Budget Proposal

Imagine that you are thirty years old, have a steady job, a house you worked to afford, and a beautiful family to support. Now imagine that your father comes to you and asks if he can take your children out for ice cream. You agree, but you don’t want him to feel burdened to pay for your children, so you give him your no limit American Express Centurion Card.

A few hours later, your father returns with your children. “How was the ice cream?” you ask. “Fantastic,” he answers. “Oh, and while we were out I used your card to pay for $10,000 in medical treatments for a man who couldn’t pay for himself-he really needed the help. And I bought a $300,000 house for a lady who had wanted a house all her life. Doesn’t everyone deserve to own a house?” His voice begins to quiver with excitement. “And then there was a poor student who said he couldn’t quite pay for his college education. No one should have to take out a loan just to learn, right? So, I paid his tuition up front in full-it was only $90,000. Isn’t that wonderful?! Besides, you make a lot of money; why not help some other people out?”

Sure it’s wonderful; medical treatments, housing, and education are all admirable and important for society. But your father just spent $400,000 of your money on someone else. That was money you worked for and were saving for your children. Now, you are saddled with debt that will take decades to repay.

Last week, President Obama began the defense of his landmark budget proposal, taking a West Coast trip that began with two town halls and finished with an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. When he returned, he was the feature interview on 60 Minutes. His tour culminated Tuesday night, where he held his second prime-time news conference in the last two months (President Bush and President Clinton held only four each during their entire Presidencies). It is clear President Obama knows he’s in for a tough fight.

And justifiably so. Over the next decade, the Obama budget proposal increases spending by over $1 trillion, raises aggregate taxes on all Americans by $1.4 trillion, and doubles the publicly held national debt to $15 trillion. These are unprecedented numbers, extending the burden on American taxpayers, encouraging hyper-inflation through debt, increasing foreign leverage in our financial markets, and pulling money out of the private economy and into government bureaucracy. Said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, “[Obama's budget] may be the most irresponsible piece of legislation I’ve seen in my legislative career.” John McCain famously called the budget a form of “generational theft,” as we trade pet projects and policy initiatives now for massive debt for our children later.

What has the President’s response been to the criticism? First, as he said Tuesday, he deserves an excuse from the criticism because of the debt he inherited: “I suspect that some of those Republican critics have a short memory, because, as I recall, I’m inheriting a $1.3 trillion deficit.” Nobody disputes that point-President Bush was hardly a fiscal conservative, and his liberal Congress spent wildly. But that does not excuse President Obama from prudent governance. We are already seeing the damages of such a wide deficit, and now he simply wants to double down? That is akin to saying that since your wife spent $5,000 on a new dress, sending you deep into consumer debt, you should then spend $5,000 on new golf clubs even though you can’t afford it.

President Obama’s second, and perhaps more indicting response, has been that he is spending on things that Americans need and deserve. This includes a $634 billion move toward socialized healthcare, as well as billions more in promises to finance student debt, expand welfare, lower mortgage payments, and fund an environmentalist cap-and-trade program. To pay for this expansion, President Obama says he will hike taxes on the wealthy (including thousands of small businesses), up the cost of investment through capital gains taxes, reduce key defense initiatives, and increase our debt to foreign nations. 

Like the grandfather who thought he was justified in spending his son’s money on other people, President Obama wants to put the debt for his social programs on the American taxpayer. He wants to redistribute wealth, and force Americans who earn money to pay for those who do not. And what we cannot pay for now, we will simply pass onto our children in the form of exorbitant national debt. In many ways, his budget proposal closely mirrors his stimulus package: Billions in pet projects, social policy initiatives, and government expansion.

At a time when we desperately need fiscal conservatism and economic answers, this budget speaks only of partisan politics. This may be a defining moment in American history. Will we set the stage for a socialized America for the next decade?

I sure hope that ice cream was worth it.

-Matt Benchener from TruPolitics.net