Barack Obama's 2013 Budget Fails to Make the Tough Cuts America Needs

Could you run the government on $2.5 trillion dollars? The Obama administration sure can’t.

Obama’s latest disaster of a budget calls for a $1.33 trillion deficit, for a total federal budget of $3.8 trillion. 

To put it in perspective, Obama wants the government to spend an amount of money next year that exceeds the GDP of every country in the world, save three.

Of course, Obama’s newest budget is about more than just the mind-boggling extent of our government’s bloat. For a president seeking reelection, the budget proposal is about shoring up support and giving the people what they want. Through his budget proposal, Obama is essentially using taxpayer money to bet that Americans want to continue avoiding making the tough cuts we need to make, particularly regarding the government’s health care programs.

President Barack Obama is doing the American public a gross disservice by continuing to behave as though Americans will never have to pay the piper.

At some point, Americans are going to need to decide to pay down the debt, or at least keep it from continuing to spiral out of control. Instead, Obama is betting that Americans will continue to embrace the popular perception that short term, unique circumstances exist that justify not just putting the problem off, but actually making it worse.

When will this end? When we're not in a recession? Believing that would be ridiculously naïve. The government has commonly run deficits even when the economy is healthy.

When will improving the present stop justifying hurting the future? Kicking the can down the road can't always be the right thing to do, can it?

Quite simply — it is ridiculous that this administration can't figure out a way to run the government on $2.5 trillion, or at least something close to $2.5 trillion.

As long as the government refuses to reform its health care programs, permits wasteful programs like Communities Putting Prevention to Work to continue, and allows billions of dollars of stimulus money to sit unspent, a $1.33 trillion deficit remains unnecessary, irresponsible and indefensible.

Photo Credit: Matt Ortega