forgottenliberty.com

President Bush, with the help of Congress, ran up gigantic yearly deficits in the the hundreds of billions of dollars.  President Obama on the other hand, has managed to dwarf Bush’s record deficits.  Despite the good game Obama has been talking the last few days about cutting the deficit and being fiscally responsible, his new budget for the 2011 fiscal year still contains another record deficit.  I know what every liberal is thinking, “Yes, this new budget still has a big deficit, but Obama said he cut out 20 billion dollars.  At least he is moving in the right direction.”  It’s true, Obama claims he cut 20 billion out of the new federal budget.  But if this budget actually increases the total amount of spending, is it truthful to say that 20 billion has been cut?  Being truthful has not been one of Obama’s strong points so far in his presidency.

This new budget will total 3.8 trillion, which is 250 billion more than last years 3.55 trillion dollar budget.  Obama claims to have cut 20 billion, but he is actually raising the amount of government spending by 250 billion.  How is this being fiscally responsible?  How is this cutting the deficit?  If I told someone that I was going to get my finances under control by cutting back on the amount of money I’m spending in one area of my budget, but then increased the amount I’m spending in another area, am I really cutting anything?  Of course not!

It goes without saying that this budget has

It appears President Obama may be realizing that his deficit is becoming a huge problem. In light of many economists warning of the pending inflation risk and foreign creditors becoming nervous of buying U.S. debt, President Obama is eying a domestic spending freeze. According to the AP,

The Obama administration has alerted domestic agencies to plan for a freeze or even a 5 percent cut in their budgets, part of an election-year push to rein in record deficits that threaten the economy and Democrats’ political prospects next fall.

The deficit-cutting drive comes as President Barack Obama traveled to Asia where several nations, especially China, have expressed concerns about the size of U.S. deficits. China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities and policymakers worry that alarm over deficits could push foreigners into cutting back on their purchases of Treasury debt.

I seem to remember John McCain proposing a spending freeze during the campaign.  I also remember Obama criticizing such a plan.  From the J Post,

Congressman Spencer Bachus told the Tuscaloosa News that he believes Social Security will be running a deficit within two years.

TUSCALOOSA | Social Security could face a deficit within two years, according to U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus who met with The Tuscaloosa News editorial board Tuesday.

“The situation is much worse than people realize, especially because of the problems brought on by the recession, near depression,” said Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, in an interview with the Tuscaloosa News editorial board.

Bachus, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, said most people seem unaware of the impending crisis. He initially said Social Security could face “default” within two years, but his staff responded later saying the Congressman intended to say “deficit.”

“What this recession has done to Social Security is pretty alarming,” he said. “We’ve known for 15 years that we were going to have to make adjustments to Social Security, but we still thought that was seven or eight years down the road. But if things don’t improve very quickly, we’re going to be dealing with that problem before we know it.”…

…As for the looming Social Security crisis, Bachus said solutions are beginning to be discussed.

“We could raise the retirement age, or in the worst case, cut back on some benefits,” he said. “But that is something we are just now beginning to get a handle on.”

If the government can’t run social security, why should we trust them with our health care?  If Social Security benefits may be rationed (by raising the retirement age or cutting back on benefits), could a similar situation develop if the government ran health care?  When did Americans start thinking the government can solve all of their problems?