Obama’s Battle of the Bulging Deficit

J.D. Foster / June 30, 2009

“We’ll Need To Raise Taxes Soon” opines Roger Altman, a former Deputy Treasury Secretary under President Clinton, in a Wall Street Journal editorial today. Of course, he comes to this conclusion because deficits are high, excessive entitlement spending continues to darken the budget outlook, and, well, that’s the solution he most desires. Of course, he’s wrong, again.

President Obama and his congressional allies have accomplished a remarkable bait-and-switch. Remember the Obama directive to his cabinet to hunt down budget savings? Nothing. Remember going through the budget line by line? Nothing. Support for pay-as-you-go budget rules? Sure, but only after passing a stimulus bill. And, of course, as all true Paygo afficionados know well, support for Paygo is a relatively painless alternative to actually cutting some spending.

The President has turned the old budget saw upside down. The supposed conservative solution to the budget was to starve the beast – cut tax revenues and let deficit pressures restrain spending. The Obama alternative is to glut the beast – spend as much as possible and let deficit pressures force taxes up. (more…)