Thursday, May 7, 2009

Obama plans spending cuts totaling $17 billion



Read article here.

While this is just a small fraction of the $3.6 trillion budget and doesn't go into effect until October, you can see where his head is at on this. He truly believes that the government's means are limited and that new spending must be offset by cuts. Although he may feel like he is doing the "prudent" thing, this increases the chances that at some point we repeat the mistake of the 1930s and end up going back into recession after emerging from it. If so, it will hurt his chances for re-election. But again, this is still relatively small and does not threaten the current recovery and stock market rally.

One more point: Half the cuts are coming from non-defense programs indicating that although he ran on a platform that included ending the war in Iraq, the savings on defense spending are not being funneled into non-defense initiatives. Those who were expecting a "peace dividend" from Obama will be disappointed.

5 comments:

R A McRae said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
R A McRae said...

Everything the man does is window-dressing -- Obama is an empty skirt. He has the entire Congress and the media, yet spends an inordinate amount of time on image control. This will continue, and thankfully the Republicans will be back in the White House in 2012. One term.

mike norman said...

Yes, you're right. I met Terry McGraw at Fox yesterday. He's the CEO of McGraw-Hill and he chairs the Business Roundtable. He told me that he's been to meetings with Obama and everything is scripted, from the questions the Roundtable members are allowed to ask, to Obama's comments.

He's not the swaggering, self-confident, leader that so many see him to be. I've been saying this all along.

On the Republicans regaining control of the White House in 2012, that's entirely possible if Obama seeks to balance or even meaningfully bring down the deficit. However, will we end up being "thankful" that they're back? My feeling is, I doubt it.

googleheim said...

yes the $17 billion spending cuts are image control and lapel wearing fubar.

however, if it attracts just 1 republican swinger to accept the bigger picture Obama has to offer, then we could save an entire village.

republiKlan republican't

history footnotes

and Obama is using an Old Iroquois technique to erase his footsteps with the hacked soles of the shoes of the enemies !!!!

R A McRae said...

Yes, I say thankful contrary to the commonly held perception. There is the precept of what is said and the precept of what is done. Government spending is the prescription for this ailing economy. And if you analyze the numbers historically, you will find the Republicans are the real spenders. Reagan, for example, after Carter. Consider the era of Clinton/Robert Rubin in comparison to George W. Bush. That giant sucking sound made famous by Ross Perot wasn’t NAFTA, but the misguided policies of government thrift draining wealth out of the private sector.