Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Obama Seeks to Fulfill Promises

President Obama introduced a budget that addresses many of the promises made during the campaign. You can disagree with the percentage applied to each but each item seems to be there. The proposed budget gives a tax cut to a large percent of the working population and slightly increases taxes for the more affluent. Of course the more affluent will squawk because in their view being patriotic means not paying taxes and contributing to the progress of the great experiment of the United States Government. In reality the Obama Budget is only restoring the tax rates that were in place before the irresponsible cuts on the top 2% on income earners. Because of the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy and his irresponsible incursions into Sovereign Nations the Bush Administration left this Nation in the worst fiscal health since the Great Depression. The Obama Budget merely looks to begin the process of restoring responsible revenue streams to pay for the Federal Expenditures.

The Obama Budget also points us towards the path of REAL energy Independence, although a meager start, at least it is a start in the right direction. The supposed conservatives, i.e. Republicans who support fossil fuel, are still calling for massive expenditures on fossil fuel exploration even though the technology for renewable, sustainable energy is on the verge of an explosive innovative era that can produce an energy economy in a decade if properly funded and encouraged. Conservative by its intrinsic meaning means "Staus Quo", and these "Conservatives" who are irresponsibly clinging to the past of the fossil fuel era do not look to real energy independence for the United States. The path that the Obama Administration is beginning is a path that President Carter tried to begin in 1977 but was opposed by the "Conservatives" of that era. With the election of Reagan, the road was closed to energy independence until now with the introduction of the Obama Budget. As the most innovative Nation on the planet it is a sin that American Energy Independence was stifled by the quest for political profit. Brazil achieved energy independence over a decade ago because of programs that were put in place in the late 1970's, America should not have been left behind. If the Reagan Administration had continued to follow the Carter Administration lead in funding alternative, renewable, sustainable energy, there is no doubt that in 2009 the United States would have by now shed our addiction to fossil fuels.

The Obama Budget also seeks to begin addressing another National disgrace, the funding and administering National Health Care. Again, maybe not as drastically as most would hope, but it is a beginning. At least the Obama Budget addresses the issue in a realistic manner unlike the last eight years. It was not that many years ago that the United States had a non-profit hospital in every major city, since the so-called Republican Revolution of the Gingrich Congress, they have all but disappeared, replaced by Corporate Hospitals only concerned with profit margins.

The Obama Budget is realistic in its approach to restoring a proper revenue stream and at least starting to cut the deficit left by the Republican Administration of the Bush Regime. When you hear the Republican Senators, Congressman, and talking heads saying that the budget is too large, remember an important fact. The Obama Administration has put into the budget, massive amounts of money that the Bush Administration was allocating without being in the budget. The Obama Administration has decided to do away with accounting trickery that the Bush Administration used to make their budgets look smaller. In Reality the Bush Budget were much larger than the Clinton Budgets in discretionary spending if items were not removed from the budget.

Obama Budget Plan


Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government: Fiscal Year 2005: Analytical Perspectives and Historical Tables table 8.7 — OUTLAYS FOR DISCRETIONARY PROGRAMS: 1962–2009




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