(Don Miller) President Barack Obama yesterday (Monday) unveiled a $3.8 trillion
budget proposal that includes big tax increases on individuals and
businesses, and expands the federal deficit by more than $5.5 trillion
by the end of the decade, including a record $1.6 trillion next year.
The budget blueprint for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 reflects
the administration's struggle to find a balance between containing the
spiraling federal deficit with the need to boost the economy and create
jobs - both of which figure to be political bombshells in the upcoming
2010 elections.
"We're trying to accomplish a soft landing in terms of our fiscal
trajectory," Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of
Management and Budget, said at a press briefing.
But the budget is certain to add fuel to the debate over the size and
scope of government. As expected, Republicans railed against the
administration's big spending programs and tax increases.
In an interview with
Bloomberg News,
U.S.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, called the budget "
a plan for more of the same - a very aggressive agenda of more government spending, more taxes, more deficits and more debt."
As part of a plan to start narrowing the gap between proposed budget
outlays and tax receipts the President's proposal revolves around a cap
on so-called discretionary spending, roughly 17% of the total budget.
Freezing spending on programs outside of defense and security for three
years and then holding it at the rate of inflation for the rest of the
next decade would save $250 billion, the administration said.
But the budget plan also calls for nearly $1 trillion in tax increases.
Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for taxpayers earning $250,000 or
more would raise $678 billion. Banks like Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:
BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:
JPM) along with multinational companies like General Electric Co (NYSE:
GE) would face $90 billion in new fees and levies. And oil companies like Exxon Mobile Corp.
