Monday, July 28, 2008

Obama To Reduce Wasteful Spending???

The White House on Monday projected a $482 billion deficit for the 2009 budget year, prompting the Obama campaign to state that this is "an urgent reminder that our fiscal policies must change."
"These have been years of unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility...," said Jason Furman, Obama's economic policy director. "Obama will restore balance and fairness to our economy by cutting wasteful spending..."
Hold on a minute! Obama's going to to restore balance to the economy by "cutting wasteful spending"? If Obama enacts all of his campaign proposals, taxpayers will end up financing over $850 billion in new spending during Obama's first term in office!

Okay, let's get the tape rolling again. Back to Obama's economic plan:
...shutting corporate loopholes and tax havens, and rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, while making health care affordable and putting a middle class tax cut in the pocket of 95 percent of workers and their families."
I'm not sure how Obama’s Health Care Plan - a plan which would cost up to $260 Billion over four years - is going to heal the economy or reduce wasteful spending. But, I'm sure Mr. Furman's got it all worked out.

Sheesh!

Meanwhile, Senator McCain - the purported Republican, moderate Republican, Independent, Liberal, all-in-one candidate - said:
"There is no more striking reminder of the need to "reverse" the profligate spending that has characterized this administration's fiscal policy."
Well, when it comes to "reversals", Senator McCain is certainly up to the task. While he hasn't reversed himself nearly as much as Obama has, he's certainly quite adept in the art of reversals - whether it's reversing his own stated policies or President Bush's policies. So - I wish Senator McCain the best of luck.

Update: Just to give you a little taste of how Obama's economic policies are formed, here's an interesting tidbit:

Donald Luskin, in a June 25 article in the Wall Street Journal noted:
Last week, Barack Obama revealed his plan to shore up Social Security's shaky finances by raising the income level on which the payroll tax is applied... Would it help Social Security's financing problems? Mr. Obama has no idea. One of his senior economic advisers admitted to me that no one on the campaign has run any detailed models or performed any rigorous analysis. When one proposes an enormous tax increase, shouldn't there at least be a spreadsheet somewhere?
Sigh....