Obama’s Farcical Budget Betrays a Crisis-Driven Electoral Strategy
When looking at a document which is supposed to tell us about our president’s plan for the financial future of our government in what is still the world’s largest economy, my natural instinct is always to set aside the skepticism and try to take it seriously.
I attempted to do that with the budget proposal the White House released on Monday; what’s at stake in the coming months and years is too important not to. I deliberately avoided the potentially prejudicial blather and went straight to the administration’s ten-year projection. Before looking at future years, I saw a figure for estimated spending in fiscal 2012 — $3.796 trillion — which has almost no conceivable basis in reality. As I see it, the White House deliberately overstated that amount by $150 billion or more. All too conveniently, it makes mammoth increases in planned future spending look a bit less frightening.
Thus, the effort to give President Obama’s budget serious treatment as a national roadmap was over in less than a minute. That said, we ignore an electoral strategy the administration has given away at our peril.
The reason the spending figure is so obviously overstated is that outlays during the first four months of the fiscal year through January have “only” been $1.139 trillion. While that’s at least 15% above where it would be if Obama and Congress were even trying to rein in our runaway government, the currently relevant points are:
- First, year-to-date spending is about 3% lower than it was through the first four months of fiscal 2011. (If you need to take a minute to find the smelling salts, I understand. You might want to keep them handy.)
- Second, Uncle Sam would have to spend $332 billion a month for the next eight months for full-year outlays to reach the White House’s projected amount. That would require a 10% year-over-year increase for the rest of the year. Though you never would want to completely rule that possibility out with this bunch, the failure of Harry Reid’s Senate to pass a real budget for over 1,000 days accompanied by his clear intention not to attempt one this year means that federal agencies are largely running on autopilot. Most of them couldn’t open the spending spigots by double-digit percentages even if they wanted to.
Pegging this year’s estimated outlays at $3.796 trillion makes the administration look as if it will actually be doing something to control spending in fiscal 2013, as that year’s projected total is a nearly identical $3.803 trillion. Horse manure. That amount would really be a ramp-up of 4%-8% over where this year’s outlays will most likely end up ($3.50-$3.65 trillion).
Last year, Investor’s Business Daily characterized the White House’s budget proposal as “gutless.” This year’s is a pathetic farce, partially explained in a cheerleading CNN email alert I received this week: “Obama unveils $3.8 trillion budget that calls for tax hikes on the rich and increased spending on infrastructure and teachers.” Call the people who run the Guinness Book of Records; I think we’ve just discovered the world’s oldest political playbook: “Failed Stimulus and Rich-Bashing.” The Obama lovers at CNN somehow forgot to tell its email’s recipients that the White House’s proposal projects yet another $1.3 trillion deficit (that would mark four years in a row of $1.29 trillion or more), and that it increases spending by over 60% during the next ten years (from the credible midpoint estimate of this year’s spending) to $5.82 trillion (remember those smelling salts I suggested?) while deeply cutting outlays for defense.
You nailed it … Mr.Blumer. These people are activist radicals and Obama is a professional “agitator” (Community Organizer) – You have stated the obvious that has been hiding in plain sight Mr.Blumer …. … the mask is now off.
This administration is EXACTLY what Andrew Breitbart described in his CPAC speech: they are the “anti-war movement”; the radical leftist wackos embodied in the words of Alynski and the actions of the Weather Underground. The actions of Obama’s crew are the actions of radical activist leftist morons and here we are trying to somehow accomodate them. Despicable.
“Uncle Sam would have to spend $332 billion a month for the next eight months for full-year outlays to reach the White House’s projected amount. That would require a 10% year-over-year increase for the rest of the year.”
He’s got high hopes. He plans to do better (in his version of things), so he had no choice but to set the deficit-spending goals higher than achievable by rational folk. He won’t give up until he’s destroyed the United States of America.
The Obama administration’s spending of enormous sums to ensure his reelection is an act of such irresponsibility he should be impeached and run out of office. But dems apparently now believe this kind of spending ensures their reelection as well. They seem to have put all their eggs into their Obama basket; or have they?
If Obama’s numbers prior to the convention are bad—in the thirties—we might see a challenger to him there. But Dems are terrified of the possibility of a Kennedy style attempted coup against their Dear Leader, and they have good reason to be. This is what this spending is all about.
The alternative is that if his numbers aren’t all that bad by then they might try to engineer another Perfect Storm for this albatross just prior to November. But even if it works for him dems in Congress may be drowned in another election tsunami–there might not be enough straight party voting to ensure their political survival.
Yea!
How about a Biden/Sharpton ticket?
Interesting point, Cb, though I think it was almost unintentional.
By that I mean the national socialists put up the first-ever (pseudo) black candidate and won. Now, from here on out, the national socialists will HAVE to run a black candidate, or at the very least someone of not-caucasion heritage. If, for lack of any other reason than to play the race card at every election.
If the candidate wins, it’s because (from the media) they were the “best person for the job” but if they lose it was (again from the media) because of racist republican voters. It’s a “Heads I win, tails you lose” little exercise and typical of how the left likes to own the narrative.
Easy-peasy. A fun little game that doesn’t really help anyone except national socialists who have little to do in their lives but blame everyone else for their own problems.
To that end, the juvenile nature of our general population that tends to buy into the immature emotional nature of things has grown to ridiculous levels.
Yes; I totally agree with the emotional/visceral component. It’s effective.
Did you catch the O’Reilly/Morris segment where O’Reilly pooh-pooh’d Morris’ insight and knowledge of the scheme foisted by Stephanopolous on Romney at the debate? Should be available at Fox News online if you missed it.
Morris has worked with Stephanopolous and knows his tactics, but O’Reilly sneered at his assessment.
Knowing the Democrat playbook, how can anyone doubt his intent?
Lost in this is the fact that some “independents” just want to be on the side of the guy who wins, when it comes to the Presidency. When the election draws close, they stick their finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing and vote for the guy that looks most likely to win.
The machine has to do everything in their power to make Pharaoh Barry look inevitable in order to hook those types.
This is the public employee union bargaining game; they have given NO thought to actually living under this budget or any other proposed legislation they produce. It is all about pandering to their constituents and establishing a public position. Just put yourself in a Lefty frame of mind: Whaddya want? EVERYTHING! When do you want it? NOW! That’s how unions develop their initial proposals; they just poll their activist members for a list of everything the craziest of their constituents want. They know full well it can’t be paid for and that no sane person would ever agree to it, not even Democrats who do, after all, have to make a government actually sorta, kinda work.
But, after they make that stupid proposal, they have a big splashy press conference and get the stupid lapdogs of the media fawning over all the good things the union/government is going to do if the troglodyte employer/Republicans will just let them do it. Of course, when the opposition rightfully says NFW, they get their media lap dogs to start howling about the starving babies and the mommies dying of cancer for lack of healthcare because the troglodyte Republicans haven’t agreed to their brilliant ideas. Then, of course, the Republican curl into fetal position because they’ve been called partisan and mean-spirited but they manage to summon enough energy to review the stupid proposal to see if there’s anything in it they “can live with.” They they try to serve some of the s*(t sandwich back to the union/Democrats, who, of course, won’t eat a s*(t sandwich served to them by Republicans. This goes on until election season whereupon the union/Democrats lay all the troubles of the World, complete with video of starving babies and dying mommies, at the feet of the troglodyte employer/Republicans who wouldn’t pass their earth-saving budget/legislation.
Now out in the real world, when a union does this, a government with a brain, and there are only a very few, grabs the union by the most vital part of its anatomy, its dues structure, and squeeze very, very hard until the union finds wisdom and comes to terms – and it always will if you sqeeze hard enough. You just have to be willing to endure being called bad names and remember that it is OK – necessary even – to be called names so long as it is the right people doing the name-calling. The closest to attacking the dues structure of a union that you can come when attacking the Democrats running a government is to attack the revenue stream of the departments that work as a Democrat money laundry: Labor, Education, EPA, and, carefully, DHHS. Nobody who relies on the services of those departments or who works in those departments is EVER going to vote for a Republican, so you don’t lose any votes by hurting them unless you get too heavy-handed with HHS and the mushy middle starts feeling sorry for the parasites. But, I really don’t think there is anybody in Congress with the guts to call the communists’ bluff.
my dad has on his shelf several simple, straightforward cookbooks: how to win a precinct election. how to win a general election.
are you going to start writing simple, straightforward books on how to do that- kill a union- bring fiscal sanity to a state budget, win a negotiation- whatever it is you keep alluding to?
kindle and nook have free uploads. you get 35% of the penny sales, and 70% over $3. People walk around with their tablets. There was a man reading to his wife from one, yesterday, at the dentist, out loud, a speech by Romney, I think.
It’s very annoying hearing you casually mention the sorts of things you know about, but not have the how/to details. it’s about like my dad mentioning his law partner lost an election, b/c blah blah blah- he hadn’t bothered to explain what was in his books, and in his head, to people who could apply the theory.
Just because you asked: http://www.amazon.com/Red-Blue-Establishing-Republican-ebook/dp/B005M784HW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329329076&sr=8-1
Be forewarned, the parts on actual nuts and bolts dealing with unions in negotiations and politics are more than just a little pedantic – think textbook, but a Republican officeholder or activist simply has to know this stuff or they get killed by union tactics, which are also the tactics the Obama Administration uses.
Art;
Four and a half stars, too! Nice!
Much kudos. (This should give “Dianna” something to do).
Thank you for the kind words. For only $10, you can take over for Dianna and proof it! Actually, it’s been proofed pretty well but a serious grammarian would probably rip into some of it; my first language is Southern, so I tend to write like I talk.
Well Art, if yo fust language is Southun, Suh, what’rya doin in Alaska? (I’m being facetious).
I know how magnificent Alaska is. Had friends stationed there.
I’ve have a little labor relations in my past, and I know how much “hard labor” it takes for some of those negotiations. Can be extremely frustrating and depressing work.
A few years of that kind of work can make a man or woman out of anybody.
Kudos again, and I’ll make it a point to check out the book.
Yeah, unfortunately, your friends are usually more frustrating and depressing than your enemies. Your enemies rarely surprise or disappoint you; they’re one-trick ponies and almost always do what they’re expected to do. When you get in trouble is when you start expecting your friends to do what they’re supposed to do.
Yes, Art. That’s sage advice.
Tom, you’re correct: This administration will be seeking any pretext for a ginned up crisis related to the economy, national security, transportation, a medical threat, the environment, etc., or some combination of these factors.
Overall, the micro- and small-business communities seem to agree they will not survive another four years of Obama and the Minions.
As a result, many have gone/are going into a holding pattern, trying to ride out current uncertainties and brace for the storm they see forming on the horizon.
As Obama says; “It’s a lot worse than anyone expected”.
The only thing wrong with that sentence is the first word, “It’s”. That should be replaced by “I’m”, and then it would reflect reality.
We have a President and Congress that are professed predators, and/or parasites.
Whatever; They’re sucking the life blood out of our nation with impunity.
“As Obama says, ‘It’s a lot worse than anyone expected.’
The only thing wrong with that sentence is the first word, “It’s”. That should be replaced by “I’m”, and then it would reflect reality.”
Love it! However, hearing what is apparently going to be little o’s oft-repeated mantra of “Everybody gets a fair chance, everybody gets a fair shot, everybody plays by the same rules” heartens me. Surely he’s promising to abolish Affirmative Action…
Yea! I believe that too! Heh, heh.
Much to think about. First, this budget isn’t “gutless”. It takes enormous courage to put forth a document like this when our country is in this much financial trouble.
Second, in a recent interview Obama was asked about his broken promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. He answered, predictably, that the economy was far worse than he thought. Setting aside the obvious incompetence of misdiagnosing the extent of the crisis, let’s look at his economic projections. Nowhere does his budget ever cut the 2008 deficit in half. The reporter, of course, didn’t mention this as a follow up question. Clearly he has abandoned this promise entirely or the promise was never anything more than a lie.
Finally, Obama is clearly moving the U.S. towards Europe; what we see as reckless he sees as progress. I’ve had harsh thoughts about the Greek politicians who fecklessly allowed their economy to deteriorate to this point, and I’ve thought that our politicians show no evidence of being any smarter or more courageous than them. But when Republicans aren’t able to convince the public that fiscal responsibility is needed, it raises another issue. The Greek people also were greedy and stupid in voting for politicians who would keep the gravy flowing; it appears U.S. voters are no more responsible or intelligent than them. This is not grounds for optimism.
It has to be illustrated that the direct interpretation of that statement;
indicts Obama and his entire horde of gross incompetence.
The most powerful position on earth with the most (supposedly) boundless intellectual resources and this is the best excuse they can come up with?
This is more than juvenile. It’s disparaging and contemptuous.
Some public choice problems have no solution. I am increasingly fearful that we may be facing that fate. We might be headed to a political economy equilibrium with levels of spending, taxation and debt held just short of causing immediate economic disaster. If that’s true, then the only hope for long term improvement would be to accidently cross the disaster threshold and have the economy collapse, which would provide an opportunity for fundamental reform.
I hope it doesn’t come to that.
For this budget alone Obama should be thrown out of office. It is almost treasonous how people in Washington misuse and mispend our money. Hopefully, we can elect a conservative Congress and a conservative President this year that will put an end to this. We can only vote and hope.
I don’t think Obama wants to be re-elected.
He wants his outrageous program to be rejected and he will then wait on the sidelines while the inevtiable economic disaster overwhelms the Republican administration.
Then comes 2016.
“The role of government is to reward cronies and attack “enemies”. The Rule of Whim.
That is the Obama playbook and it’s also the governance model for African countries and third world s**tholes.
We have a third world government in the Obama administration, that is why the economy is in the crapper.
Robert L Mayo – “Economic collapse… I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
It will and sooner that anybody realises as well. Remember it took 36 months for Greece to go from AAA to insolvent failing state, the United States has already been downgraded and Obama’s unicorn budget guarantees more comming down the pipeline.
Whne Europe implodes the TBTF banks detonate 10 minutes later, then the fireworks begin…
Short hope and change… Long spending until the US dollar = Zimbucks.
Thanks Tom for sorting through this for us with so much patients and giving us your honest assessment even though I doubt that anyone in the world would have expected Obama come up with any thing different than this kind of cynical farce of a budget.
Make no mistake Obama is a student of Psychopolitics, no question. He and his team are masterfully manipulating the public and the media to create his socialist utopia. The unions are his foot soldiers.