Obama's Budget

Obama will release his budget for 2013 on Monday.  Here are the highlights:

(1)  More stimulus spending, including increases for highway construction and increases for modernization of schools.

(2)  A new tax on banks, called a "financial crisis responsibility fee," which sounds like a vengeance tax to me.  I hope whoever came up with that fancy, clever name for what is simply a punitive tax on banks gets a promotion - he/she seems to have a good grasp of progressivespeak.

(3)  A new tax on airlines and private jet owners in the form of a $100 per-takeoff fee.

(4)  A clever, gimmicky accounting trick that says the budget reduces spending by $1 trillion - gimmicky, because that $1 trillion is simply money saved from ramping down the wars, and has nothing to do with how Obama structured this budget.  That money is "saved" whether Obama has a budget or not.  But it's there, so why not take credit for it, right?

(5)  Enactment of the "Buffet Rule" - households which bring in $1 million or more, however they do it, must pay at least 30% of it in taxes.  Whether it's capital gains, business income, gifts, whatever - we can't let rich people get away with their crimes anymore.  They are just too clever and employ too many good accountants who help find tax savings - so now we are doing away with the tax code essentially for the rich and just taking 30% of everything, because allowing the rich to find savings in the tax code like everyone else is just too risky and lets too many rich people stay rich.

(6)  The budget results in about a $1 trillion deficit - for the youngsters out there, this means the government will spend $1 trillion more than it brings in, so our national debt will increase by $1 trillion.

Overall, the President will tell the American people that his plan saves $4 trillion over the next decade, which is progressivespeak for "we will continue to increase spending and run deficits every year, but we will increase spending by $400 billion less each year than we were originally projected to."  It's a spending increase, but this is what the progressives like to call a spending cut.

I like analogies, so I'll leave you with one in closing this post.  Imagine your boss comes to you on Jan. 1st and says he's going to give you a 5% raise this year.  "Great, thanks," you say.  He explains that he was projected to actually cut your salary by 12% this year but he managed to rework his budget so that he only has to cut your salary by 7% instead.  Therefore, he is cutting your salary by 5% less than originally projected, which, in progressivespeak, means you are getting a 5% raise.  After all, you'll be getting 5% more than you would have if the original projections were followed through on. 

So now you can go on Facebook and tell all your friends and family that you received great news at work today - you are getting a 5% pay raise, with your salary going from $50,000/year down to $46,500/year.  When your friends and family act surprised, just tell them you work for the government and increases and cuts are defined a little differently there.  Also, tell them to vote for Obama so that these clever definitions can be applied to national budgeting process as well.