White House unveils $3.8 trillion budget monster (Update)

While distributing the largest federal budget in the history of the world, administration staffers reminded everyone the country would be running huge deficits for the foreseeable future, and there is nothing anybody can do about it.

$3.8 trillion …. $3.8 trillion. Scroll down for the update.

Remember when Democrats and conservatives alike used to complain about $300 billion deficits? Hah! $1 trillion is the new billion baby. From the Washington Times.

Trying to get a handle on spending while pushing for the economic recovery to continue, Mr. Obama Monday will send Congress a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2011 that administration officials describe as “pragmatic.” The plan freezes a large portion of domestic spending while renewing several tax cuts for middle-class households and boosting funds for education and energy initiatives.

The budget is likely to tee up an intense fight on Capitol Hill, where Mr. Obama is asking lawmakers to approve cuts or eliminations in 120 federal programs in an election year. Several key Democratic leaders have already voiced opposition to some of the targets, such as eliminating future purchases of C-17 cargo planes and NASA’s Constellation mission to return astronauts to the moon.

Lots of talk about making major cuts here and there, but the real problem has been the tremendous growth of the federal government and their spending during the last two decades. Of course, spending went into hyper-mode just one year ago when Congress and the Executive Branch quadrupled the deficit in a matter of hours.

Oh yeah … the president budget is 6 percent larger than last year’s. Got that? Six percent!

Jonathan Weisman at the Wall Street Journal notes…

President Barack Obama will propose on Monday a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 that projects the deficit will shoot up to a record $1.6 trillion this year, but would push the red ink down to about $700 billion, or 4% of the gross domestic product, by 2013, according to congressional aides.

The deficit for the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, would eclipse last year’s $1.4 trillion deficit, in part due to new spending on a proposed jobs package. The president also wants $25 billion for cash-strapped state governments, mainly to offset their funding of the Medicaid health program for the poor.

Weisman also feels the need to point out – twice – that Obama inherited the $1.4 trillion deficit and I’m totally sick of that excuse. Enough with the blame Bush crap – I blame the federal government including the Executive Branch and Congress.

We’ve doubled the size of the federal government in 10 years. That, as I’ve noted more than a few times is the disease.

Update: As Malkin notes, the flood of bright red ink is on the way. She points us to the recently released Republican charts, painting a simple picture. Here is just one, proving we’re writing checks our body can’t cash.

Posted in

Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

3 Comments

  1. donh on February 1, 2010 at 7:41 am

    Thank  you for the topic. I do not think either party is properly considering the fall out of busting this country into  bankruptcy. Witness the current  failure of Republicans to seat Scott Brown and fight the debt ceiling increase vote illegally cast by Kirk.  We depend on oil imports. Serious energy shortages could result from a  bankruptcy . Countries crippled by debt have a notorious history of exporting  their food supply to service their obligations. I do not want this country to descend into some kind of warlord state. Keep going down the road to ruin and our families will   depend our survival on the good will of men hoarding  stashes of guns, silver, and tunafish  in a bunker .



  2. pjdroney on February 2, 2010 at 3:04 am

    Don, it isn't the Republicans who have failed to seat Scott Brown….the Secretary of State in Mass apparently has been dragging his feet certifying the election results. Unfortunately, this allowed Kirk albeit in my mind and yours illegally to vote for that albatross. Hopefully the world will realign on Thursday when Brown is sworn in, but I'm holding back because just like most Northeast "Republicans", I hope Brown isn't a RINO.



    • Dimsdale on February 2, 2010 at 8:16 am

      Ya gotta remember where he is coming from: deepest of deep blue Massachusetts.  "Kennedy country".  Home to politican turds like Frank and Kerry to name a very few.  The land where the last three state speakers of the house have been convicted of corruption so egregious even the Boston Globe can't find a way to defend it.

       

      He may not be perfect, but he sure isn't some lame, rubberstamping shill for the DNC like Coakley would have been.  From what I have seen to date, you shouldn't have too many concerns with Brown.  If you see problems, consider what he replaced!



The website's content and articles were migrated to a new framework in October 2023. You may see [shortcodes in brackets] that do not make any sense. Please ignore that stuff. We may fix it at some point, but we do not have the time now.

You'll also note comments migrated over may have misplaced question marks and missing spaces. All comments were migrated, but trackbacks may not show.

The site is not broken.