Obama: Why, we can’t cut spending by 2.3 percent!
Today, the Congressional Budget Office projected this year’s deficit to be $845 billion. It would be the first time during Barack Obama’s presidency that the deficit could be measured with only a 12-digit number. Hooray?
CBO expects higher tax revenues, including the tax increases included in the Jan. 1 deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, to contribute $259 billion toward deficit reduction. (Here, I repeat my standard disclaimer that CBO almost always over-estimates the increase in revenues that comes with higher tax rates because it does not even attempt to consider how people will change their behavior to avoid paying higher taxes.)
Yet, also today, Obama said he does not want to see spending cuts of just $85 billion due to the sequester take effect.
For those keeping score at home, the cuts he opposes equal (take your pick):
- just 2.3 percent of all federal spending this year;
- just 10.1 percent of even this year’s deficit;
- a mere $1 for every $3 in deficit reduction due to higher revenues (the bulk of which, according to the CBO report, are related to the fiscal cliff deal) — that is, the reverse of the standard ratio discussed for taxes vs. spending in a deficit deal.
Instead of such paltry cuts, Obama wants smaller cuts, even more tax increases, and yet another punt of the larger deficit issue.
Oh, and he missed yesterday’s deadline for submitting a budget to Congress — the third straight year he’s done so.
And some people wonder why conservatives accuse Obama of not being serious about our deficits and debt.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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179 comments Add your comment
getalife
February 5th, 2013
9:56 pm
md,
It is still on the table.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
February 5th, 2013
10:17 pm
Ben: Let’s hear some more specific cuts
——————
OK. Cut the parasite maintenance programs by an amount equal to 2.3% of the budget. And then cut another 2.3% just for fun.
Time to eat your peas, Obozo receptacles.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
February 5th, 2013
10:31 pm
Seven million will lose insurance under Obama health law
President Obama’s health care law will push 7 million people out of their job-based insurance coverage — nearly twice the previous estimate, according to the latest estimates from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.
——————————-
“If you like your plan, you can FOAD”
td
February 5th, 2013
11:29 pm
Still think the best way to go is the Penny/Mack plan.
1: Freeze all automatic increases to the budget for 6 years.
2: Actually cut 1% per year across the board for 6 years.
If the Feds can not find 1% per year worth of Waste/fraud and abuse then there is something wrong with them and they all should be fired.
Numbers-R-US
February 6th, 2013
7:07 am
I heard the deficit will drop this year. Most likely due to the elimination of some of the Bush tax cuts that never paid for themselves as Republicans assured us they would. That and reduced war spending. If only the Republicans had done something other than provide lip service with their 2010 jobs campaign, we could be even farther along the road to a full recovery from the Bush Great Recession.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
February 6th, 2013
7:24 am
Numbers-R-US: the Bush tax cuts that never paid for themselves as Republicans assured us they would
————————
Just for the record, tax revenue increased after Our President Bush implemented His tax cuts.
Don’t fear facts.
Jefferson
February 6th, 2013
7:25 am
When given the WHOLE govt to run, the GOP lost all the credibility by running up the deficit and wrecking the economy. Nobody should expect their methods or ideas to work.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
February 6th, 2013
7:32 am
5% unemployment, measly $300 billion deficits, AAA credit rating, fewer people on welfare, fewer on SSI disability, 2-3% economic growth…looks a damn sight better than Obozo’s failed record.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
February 6th, 2013
7:33 am
Oh, and the Democrats were in charge of fiscal matters when the recession started.
TBone
February 6th, 2013
8:12 am
Obviously the costs of buying elections is and will be high for some time.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 6th, 2013
8:44 am
“When given the WHOLE govt to run, the GOP lost all the credibility by running up the deficit”
Correct.
“and wrecking the economy.”
Epically incorrect.
indigo
February 6th, 2013
8:45 am
Barry – “our President Bush”
“Your” President Bush got us into two useless wars and turned them into
credit card wars. In one of these wars, the Iraq war, he attempted to fulfill Bible prophecy and caused the deaths of thousands of American troops and the permanent maiming of thousands more. Clearly, this bothers both him and you not a bit.
The huge cost of these wars will burden future generations for many years to come and will make it next to impossible for ANY president to substantially improve our economy.
I hope, with all my heart, for the demise of a Party capable of inflicting so much lasting damage on the American people.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 6th, 2013
8:53 am
“Clearly, this bothers both him and you not a bit.”
Clearly, your ability to assume without facts continues unabated.
“The huge cost of these wars will burden future generations for many years to come and will make it next to impossible for ANY president to substantially improve our economy.”
Clearly, your inability to put the spending of two wars into context regarding out total deficit spending continues unabated.
“I hope, with all my heart, for the demise of a Party capable of inflicting so much lasting damage on the American people.”
You’re finally hoping for the demise of the Democrat party, Indigo? Good for you!
Triple Nickel
February 6th, 2013
8:57 am
Indigo, There you go again trying to apply reason and logic to our current fiscal crisis. Relax and enjoy reading the haters comments in this thread. Be grateful most of the country doesn’t hate the same way we love to in Georgia.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 6th, 2013
9:00 am
Triple Nickel, reason and logic never enter into any discussion from Indigo’s side.
Ever.
And apparently, not from yours.
curious
February 6th, 2013
9:06 am
Lil Barry,
Too bad you weren’t running the Republican Presidential campaign. Romney would have won in the landslide you predicted.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 6th, 2013
9:07 am
It’s almost as though 9/11 never happened and the Twin Towers are still standing. The UN was never consulted, Congress never voted on them, Bush just whipped out the ole credit card and said “let’s do a war, no, make it two wars.”
Remember, these are the same whackjobs that named obozocare “the affordable care act.”
Real live weirdos all.
Numbers-R-US
February 6th, 2013
9:10 am
Just for the record, tax revenue increased after Our President Bush implemented His tax cuts.
And subsequently tanked on his watch. Just for the record.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 6th, 2013
9:11 am
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the people that obozo and mccain want to give high tech US armaments to -
Women’s Unclean Breasts Cause Diarrhoea, Says Egypt Prime Minister Hisham Qandil
Yep and let’s go kill the ape and pig Jews with our new hotrod airplanes.
Numbers-R-US
February 6th, 2013
9:13 am
Tax revenues are up now thanks to the elimination of some of Bush’s unfunded tax cuts by our President Obama.
Don’t fear the facts, Lil.
curious
February 6th, 2013
9:17 am
Aesop.
Haven’t you figured it out, yet?
Kyle’s blog is trick by the Feds to keep you distracted from inflicting damage on society in general.
The more they keep you here, the less damage elsewhere.
indigo
February 6th, 2013
9:17 am
Tiberius – 8:53
Wrong again.
Consistent as always.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/bush200712
Numbers-R-US
February 6th, 2013
9:18 am
Let us see some numbers:
The deficit in 2012 was 1.1 trillion and the projected deficit for 2013 is 845 billion. That equates to a decline of 23 percent. And Kyle proclaims that we cannot cut spending by 2.3 percent. I’ll see your measly 2.3% and raise you an order of magnitude.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 6th, 2013
9:24 am
Uh, Indigo?
An opinion piece in a liberal rag does not an economic argument make, sonny.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 6th, 2013
9:26 am
Reading isn’t your strong suit, is it Numbers?
“Projected”
“Estimated”
CBO is usually wrong in orders of magnitude even you can’t match.
Jefferson
February 6th, 2013
9:37 am
Wrecked, bailouts, deficits…
the red herring
February 6th, 2013
9:54 am
kyle is correct—spending under bush was not good—spending under obama is terrible –it has skyrocketed — if you can’t see this nation has a spending problem then you probably shouldn’t vote.
Try taking out a mastercard in your name and every month keep on spending more than you make—then go to your boss and tell him you need a 50% pay hike because you can’t control your spending. See if he thinks you have an income problem or a spending problem—see if mastercard thinks you have a spending problem or an income problem—see if the courts think you have a spending or income problem. That simple enough??
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 6th, 2013
10:01 am
“That simple enough??”
For intelligent people, yes.
For liberals, no.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
February 6th, 2013
9:18 pm
Numbers-R-US: tax revenue increased after Our President Bush implemented His tax cuts…And subsequently tanked on his watch. Just for the record.
———————–
That can happen when folks stop paying their mortgages and cause financial meltdowns. Good thing Our President Bush fixed that before he left and the recession ended a few short months later, in June 2009.