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President Obama reveals his budget today, giving the dwindling crop of GOP contenders something to pick at other than each other for a change. And they're ready to tear it to pieces, especially the "big spending" portions that are designed to stimulate the economy at the expense of cutting the deficit.
As usual, the Neocons are long on critique and short on solutions. They love to attack the spending while offering no solution (beyond the expected tax cuts to the rich) to solve the current economic crisis. Not that it matters, as nobody expects it to pass during an elections year. It's all just part of the show, as Reuters reports:
"Obama's 2013 spending proposal is expected to go nowhere in a divided Congress and is widely seen as more of a campaign document that frames his economic pitch to voters and seeks to shift the focus from deficits to economic growth. It fleshed out a major theme of his re-election campaign -- 'economic fairness.' He wants wealthier Americans to bear more of the burden of slashing a federal deficit that was a trillion plus dollars for a fourth year in a row. The budget proposal is a 'reflection of shared responsibilities,' the Democratic president said at a campaign-style event in Annandale, Virginia, referring to his call for a minimum 30 percent tax on millionaires.
"In one of his best opportunities before the November 6 election to convince voters that he deserves a second term, Obama called for more than $800 billion for job creation and infrastructure investment, including billions of dollars for roads, railways and schools. He also set aside money to hire more teachers, police and firefighters and invest in manufacturing, while extending tax breaks to spur hiring."
30% tax on the rich? Never happen. Sounds good, though, to his receding "base." Ditto the job-creation plan, which sounds very "New Deal." Even if none of it passes, he's forcing Republicans to publicly refuse to help the working class and tax the rich, which might help a bit in the long run.
But we've been to this dance before, and the partners may change and the music is different, but the outcome is always the same. Thousands of protesters took to the streets outside the CPAC convention in DC to protest our unfair economic policies . . . and it was invisible to the corporate media. Ho hum.
