Obama offers deeper spending cuts, appeals for budget deal

“My administration has already put forward specific cuts that meet congressional Republicans halfway. And I’m prepared to do more,” said Obama.

Not so. Obama is basing his proposed budget on a reduction in increases on the phantom budget that the Democrats failed to pass last year when they had control of both houses of Congress. His budget is a dishonest political document. He is not leading and is definitely not serious about doing anything about a huge and unsustainable budget deficit and the government debt. He is obviously waiting for Republicans to take the lead with proposals that he will then just attack. He has no idea what he is doing and has no plan to get the country out of the huge fiscal hole that he is largely responsible for creating.

Obama is offering to cut 0.5% from the deficit. Big deal. The remaining 99.5% gets added to the national debt, which gets paid when?

Nobody says. I have yet to hear anyone say exactly when they plan to pay back all the money they are borrowing. When there will be no annual deficit. When they can start to reduce the debt load that will be left to America's future generations.

It is incredibly rude and irresponsible when you think about it. Obama is spending money now, and leaving his children to pay it back. If a private citizen tried to do that, they would be laughed at. But government?

Obama needs to find $1.6 trillion in cuts. Maybe Donald Rumsfeld can find the $2+Trillion he lost --> that would save Obama right there.

Maybe Obama can find some of the $3 trillion he blew on a failed stimulus and other reckless spending over the last two years. His ideology told him that that if he flew Air Force One over the country and dropped money by the bucket loads that the unemployment rate would never exceed 8%. Well, by his own definition this demand side gimmick failed miserably.

The federal budget should be set back to 2008 levels and left there until the budget deficit - and more importantly a large portion of the nations debt - is paid off. Then and only then should the government be talking about more spending - I mean "investment" - in public programs. People seem blissfully and in some cases intentionally ignorant of the seriousness of the nations debt problems.

"Maybe Donald Rumsfeld can find the $2+ trillion he lost"

Maybe you could check the facts before posting. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have so far cost about $1.6 trillion, and I notice that even after 2 years of Obama, we still have troops in both countries, with troop levels in Afghanistan at an all-time high.

Gas is 5 bucks/gallon in Florida.

Carter redux.

Maybe we should look at how a Democratic administration responded the last time a Republican administration presided over the destruction of the world's economy. Roosevelt's policies worked until the Republicans started fretting and pushed him to cut back.

These cuts of $61 billion don't do anything for the LONG-TERM debt which is the real problem. What will result from these drastic cuts is the loss of 200 thousand to 1 millon jobs. With the economy beginning to recover this will drag us back into a deep recession, all to score political points.

Roosevelt's policies worked until the Republicans started fretting and pushed him to cut back

. No, they failed miserably. His Sec of Treasury Henry Morgenthau admitted the spending and the Keynesian shell game put the country even deeper in debt and misery. "Morgenthau's Lament." Do the search.

Bye bye America.

I guess you get what you deserve.

Sushi, we'll see.

You've and other doomsayers have said we were bust before and here we still be.

You may want to look at your own little world.

So far, the touted "stimulus package" has been a total failure. The economy is not anywhere close to recovered, and is now saddled with trillions more in debt (happily held by red China). Obama has not done anything to end American involvement in Iraq, actually increased troop levels in Afghanistan, has yet to close Guantamo Bay...

tell me again how he is different from his predecessor?

Obama is naive to think anything he does will gain the approval of the neocons in Congress. They would demand his hide even if he changed his name to Ronald Reagan and moved to a ranch in Southern California.

"Facing a federal deficit of $1.6 trillion"

This is what happens when Democrats control Congress from 2007, and the White House from 2010.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have so far cost about $1.6 trillion

Oh, is that all! Sofa change, that!

This what you call being between a rock and a hard place. The dirty little secret is that US government spending was the smoke and mirrors trick that powered the US economy since 1980. It would be nice to have some adults in the room who would admit that, but none in sight. Just lots of screaming about "getting the deficit and debt under control". Sorry guys, but too late for that, horse already left the barn. Cut spending and you will crash the economy, or continue "borrowing" money that can never be paid back, which won't end well either.

Things should never have been allowed to get to this place of course. In a capitalist system those who lend money that can not be paid back lose the money, and if they lose too much money they go out of business. Capitalism 101, buy hey, the USA stopped having a capitalist system decades ago. Now too late, bubble was built and burst, and can't do that as banks are now too huge and too broke. Next solution is to write down the debts, but can't do that as political suicide. Those not in debt would justifiably rebel. Only solution then is for the US government to give people money. If you have debts it must be used to pay them off, if you don't you can spend it on whatever you want, but can't save it. That money would then flow back to the government through taxes, and the government debt would get paid down as well. But all that can't happen of course, because governments have to "borrow" money from "rich" people who they then pay interest to right? Actually they don't, but that is a secret too, heh heh!

Bye bye America.

I guess you get what you deserve

You are under estimating a power of American Public.

Americans know how to unite and solve problems in the time of crisis.

Let's be honest this budget cut is a penny in a buckt unless we agree to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Defence expenditures for a long term solution. But who wants to do that? The problem is nobody want to do it.