6/10/2009

Obama's Deficit Rhetoric is the opposite of what he does

From the Washington Times:

President Obama said on Tuesday that "Entitlement increases and tax cuts need to be paid for. They're not free." To look like he's getting tough on the deficit, he's promoting the "pay as you go" rule, which provides a justification for raising taxes. Mr. Obama shouldn't go there.

The proposal would require lawmakers to make up for new spending programs and tax cuts by cutting other programs or raising other taxes. The rule wouldn't be retroactive, so it would not pay for the extravagant spending programs Mr. Obama already has introduced, such as the $787 billion stimulus bill he signed in February. The mandate wouldn't apply to the $2.5 trillion worth of new spending priorities that the Obama administration plans to enact in the future. Steps toward nationalized health care would be exempt.

Mr. Obama has been pretending to be a deficit hawk since his presidential campaign last year. On the hustings, he continually blamed last fall's financial crisis on the deficit, which he promised to cut by shrinking government spending. During the presidential debates, he complained of an "orgy of spending and enormous deficits" and promised to correct the costly spending cycle.

His rhetoric didn't change after he moved into the Oval Office. Mr. Obama told C-SPAN on May 23 that "we are out of money now," and said at a May 14 town meeting in New Mexico that our deficit spending is "unsustainable." But the president continues to spend at record levels. . . . .

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