MISDIRECTION Watch > Obama Budget Doubles Down on Deficit Spending Failure

[ This really, really has to stop! There are really no meaningful cuts no matter how many times BHO tries to bamboozle “We the People”! “Investing” is a euphemism for “stimulus” which is a euphemism for “spending”. – JS ]

From heritage.org

Standing in front of a Baltimore County middle school yesterday, President Barack Obama said, “Even as we cut out things that we can afford to do without, we have a responsibility to invest in those areas that will have the biggest impact in our future. And that’s especially true when it comes to education.” Accordingly, the President’s budget includes a $13 billion increase in Department of Education spending from the 2010 budget. But this is hardly the first time a White House has significantly raised education spending.

In fact, since 2001 federal education spending has already increased by 100 percent. And going back to 1970, it has almost tripled. And what have been the results of this federal “investment” in our future? Nothing. Department of Education spending has completely failed to raise student achievement over the past 30 years. This is the story of President Obama’s budget: too much spending, too much taxes, and too much borrowing—all of which has already failed to create jobs today and will make it harder for our children to find jobs in the future.

Since President Barack Obama was sworn into office, total entitlement spending has grown 4 percent, total discretionary has soared 16 percent, and the national debt has exploded 43 percent. Over that same time the United States economy has lost 3.3 million jobs. President Obama cannot be blamed for the most recent recession, but he can certainly be held accountable for the failure of his deficit spending policies in response.

The fiscal year 2012 budget released yesterday by the President doubles down on this failed record. The White House is trying to portray this document as a spending cut. Specifically, they claim the President’s budget reduces 2012 discretionary spending by 5 percent. But as Heritage Foundation scholar J. D. Foster details, these “cuts” are made possible only by three gimmicks: (1) redefining Pell grants as mandatory spending, (2) reclassifying $54 billion of surface transportation spending from discretionary spending to mandatory spending, and (3) reducing funding for Iraq and Afghanistan by $38.2 billion in 2012. Reversing these budget tricks not only wipes out the entirety of President Obama’s claimed $77 billion in spending cuts; it actually reveals them to be a $31 billion increase in discretionary spending. This is moving the ball in the wrong direction, and the American people know it. Read it all here…

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[ Now look at these numbers closely – JS ]

Via NRO, a truly harrowing by-the-numbers tabulation of "Obama's spending spree:"

1. $3.73 trillion — total spending this year (25 percent of GDP). [ Should be 19% or less if we are going to survive. This virtually dictates a minimum annual deficit of approximately $1.0 trillion– JS ]
2. $46 trillion — total spending over the next decade.
3. $8.7 trillion — total new spending over the same period. [ See 6 below. This accounts for much of the future deficit. – JS ]
4. $26.3 trillion — Total new debt, including entitlement obligations, predicted by 2021.
5. $7.2 trillion — Total deficit predicted by the end of the decade.
6. $1.1 trillion — How much the White House estimates the proposal will reduce the deficit over the next ten years. [ Nah! Looks more like a minimum of increase of $10 Trillion or more! – JS ]
7. $4 trillion — How much the president’s deficit commission recommended reducing the deficit over the next ten years to avoid financial catastrophe.
8. $1.6 trillion — The projected annual deficit for 2011 (11 percent of GDP), up from $1.3 trillion in 2010.
9. $2 trillion — Amount the budget will raise taxes on business and upper-income families over the next ten years, which includes letting the Bush-era tax rates expire in 2012 (for incomes $250,000 and up). [ At least $15,500 per tax paying house hold in the US, about $500,000 per household making over $250,000! – JS ]