...and once he's done, you won't believe how many "rich" people there are in the United States.

Like Jerry Brown in California, who proposed with great fanfare a tax on "millionaires", and, oh yeah - also a half cent increase in the sales tax. Both taxes are "temporary", of course.

I'd feel more confident if he did like some executives do when they are helping a faltering enterprise to recover, draw a salary of $1 a year..

Why do they call it the "Bush" tax cuts? Current law was passed under Obama Administration. He had almost two years of a Congress controlled by Democrats during which he chose not to remove the cuts.

"Obama framed the budget debate, for his part, as an effort to make sure “everyone plays by the same set of rules"

Unless you're Jeff Immelt (GE) or Warren Buffet or make a big enough re-election donation.

What a joke, this guy is rapidly descending to and beyond Bush's level. Which, based on history, guarantees him a second term.

Oh, I misread the "...TAX the rich" part.

I figured Obama was going to "...AXE the rich...", for bribes...I mean "CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS".

Doesn't matter if its a Republicrat or a Democan, from the White House or from the Congress, its all a game, without any meaningful effort to actually deal with the issues.

Save a trillion -- ten years out!

Yeah, right.

Spending actually increases in the FY 2012 budget proposed.

If the worldwide economy doesn't crash this summer when Italy defaults revenue will be up.

Yeah, right.

Quell farce.

We are so scre*ed.

If you took 100 percent of the income of "the rich" in taxes it would cover only a fraction of the deficit.

People who say this would be a siginificant step toward "economic justice" are either abject idiots or consummate cynics. There is no third option.

When government types talk about budget cuts, what they are REALLY talking about is not increasing the budget as much as they would like. They're still spending more money but a 4 percent increase instead of a 6 percent increase (for example) is labeled a "draconian" cut.

But then, this shell game is played by Obama and friends again and again and again. And media folk, comfy in their complacency (or actively seeking a government job and not wishing to poison the well) say nothing, do nothing.

What I can't understand about Obama (full disclosure: I voted for him enthusiastically in 2008—I must have been on acid) is how the smartest guy in the room turned out to be so socially tone-deaf, politically inept, and economically incompetent.

It's like the Obamans think they can fix everything just by wishing it so, or coming up with some half-baked idea worthy of a high school term paper. It's like his proposals come from the "Lucy and Ethyl Get An Idea" school of government.

Maybe he's just in over his head. Or maybe he isn't that smart. Although he does seem more than able to generously take care of his friends.

The interest for current deficit is over 200 BILLION a year.
In ten years it will be over 800 BILLION. Our children are screwed.
Four more years will be tough to recover from.
At least he's not a Republican.

Obama, Castro and Chavez are all smart guys with lots of charisma who give powerful speeches. They also are all three engaged in destroying their respective economies. (Castro destroyed his years ago)

Now what I do not understand is why people like that, with all of their gifts, use their power to destroy their country. I suppose I'll never understand that. It must just be a power trip becuase they don't gain much else out of it. Castro will be a joke for the rest of history. He took a very nice country and turned it into a pit. Obama won't be able to do that even if he wins a second term because eventually he'll be gone. Chavez might be able to destroy his country before they get rid of him.

Obama appears to have read the same book that Castro and Chavez are following. His speeches use the same words and phrases. He also appears to be able to fool the same type of folks that Chavez and Castro fooled into following them. Evidently there is always a decent number of economically ignorant people who love a good speech in any country.

Okay, let's try something different: there are over seventy redundant federal "programs" involving "transportation", covering everything from landscaping to transportation museums. That, right there, is a Blumenauer wet-dream.

How about this: President Jimmuh Cahtah created the federal Department of Vegetation in 1980, a Department that now throws $20 billion a year right into the toilet, with no discernible educational benefit whatsoever.

Oh golly, where could we cut?

This is well worth the read. Especially when the writer gets to King George III:

http://www.alternet.org/rights/154099/how_team_obama%2C_the_gop%2C_and_tea_partiers_are_all_intruding_on_your_rights/

Now what I do not understand is why people like that, with all of their gifts, use their power to destroy their country. I suppose I'll never understand that.

It is hard to understand how anyone can do this to their own country and even to our city, but didn’t we all learn in school about those who have betrayed us like Benedict Arnold?

I'm working on a new pop hit. Abraham, Martin and .... Mitt.

Obama wants to tax the rich. 1. How does this make us a more prosperous country? Punish the rich may be his agenda, but we'll end up poorer and under greater control of the federal government.

"At least he's not a Republican." "... those who have betrayed us like Benedict Arnold?"

Folks keep looking at the double agent and seeing only the half that TVmassmedia tells them to see. Like one of those optical illusions stairsteps or something, when staring and staring can't get it to 'flip' away from the first impression (or priming suggestion) at first sight of the image.

Folks whose reading rate is rapid and comprehension is fluent might remove all mystery in mind replaced by knowing this biography of Obama.

But wait. There's more, here. It seems to indicate that he was an FBI snitch those years he was infiltrated into Trinity Church and other Chicago groups of African Americans (characteristically difficult to infiltrate).

Still some folks choose to stay in denial keeping mystery foremost -- the easier to baselessly accuse by.

But no, he's not going to tax the rich. He says the opposite of what he does.
or vice versa. (google 'astrology Moon in Gemini')

"TAX WANTS TO TAX THTHE RICH'
Before the Bush Tax Cuts, our country was out of debt, and
businesses, large and small, were thriving because the masses had money to buy their goods and services. The wealthy are the main benefactors when the masses have jobs and money.
Likely more dollars flow into the 1%er's pockets than a cut in their taxes.

I saw that the budgets for HUD and transportation are poised to go up, but taxing rich people will do nothing toward job creation at private companies which is the only way this or any country can sustain itself. I feel that Obama would ultimately like for the government to control who gets what, that the winners don't win too much and the losers are taken care of - just to make sure everything is fair. We will have more public housing, more rail mass transit, and more mass everything. I don't know what economic training Obama has had, but it seems to come from the Magical Thinking school of thought. That's what we called the immature thinking of adolescent students who persisted with unrealistic dreams long past when reality and logic should have told them what was likely. Developmentally they were still at that fairy tale stage when anything could come true if you wanted it bad enough.

Move over Greece - at this rate, out debt will grow to outshadow yours. What an achievement to watch in my lifetime.

I really wish these people preening on about the "1%" would just shut the hell up already. It's not like you have to make millions per year to be in that particular demographic - in fact, in 2009, if you made $344,000 then you're in the 1%.

Sure, that's a nice chunk of change for an individual. What about small businesses that actually create jobs? Lots of them fall right into that range.

It's funny who some consider rich, let's look at small business for example. My wife has run a bookkeeping business out of our home for some time. She kept talking about 'needing' a storefront, she felt it made her look more legit and prestigious. As fate would have it, she is now in a position where she is in an office, basically running it during the day (it's not her's and it's not really bookkeeping) but she's getting a GREAT feel for what it's like to have dropped a wad of money into an establishment and then have to go THERE day after day and wait, wish and stare hoping that someone will walk through the door. There are days when NO ONE walks through the door. The fellow who owns this business is just barely making it, but should he get lucky and things fall the right way, he just may make some money, and Obama and the liberals want to tax him extra if he does get lucky. No, my wife has figured out that her business model is much less overhead, much more flexible and much less stressful than what this poor guy and what so many other small businessmen go through on a daily basis. If you have the money, the time and the gonads to put up with the hit-or-miss of running a small business, then you deserve all the profits that you might get, because you are certainly putting up with a HUGE risk.

Looks like this class warfare stuff is starting to work for Barry.

Didn't I read that negative campaigns are more effective than positive one's? Obama's plan isn't a budget so much as a political platform to beat (litteraly) the opposition.

”There is no third option.”

Of course there’s a third option.

Match expenses to revenues and borrowing. Transparently. With a long term plan and contingencies, and a commitment to abide by them.

It’ll never happen of course. Not because it can’t, but because we won’t. The electorate is so out of touch with the notion of informed citizenship as a duty, of competing interests fighting over real money that comes from somewhere real, of balancing needs and desires, of the common good (not to be confused with the common feel-good), of the concept of what wealth really is, that there’s no chance.

So it’s every man for himself, and let the looting continue!

History is the story of amoral smart people taking advantage of the stupid. This is an exceptionally bad time to be stupid.

This is an exceptionally bad time to be stupid.

Agreed.

All you have to do is look up a few comments and see 'from Where I Sit' say: Before the Bush Tax Cuts, our country was out of debt... The basic problem is most people believe they are smarter than the average Joe.

I don't know what economic training Obama has had, but it seems to come from the Magical Thinking school of thought. That's what we called the immature thinking of adolescent students who persisted with unrealistic dreams long past when reality and logic should have told them what was likely.

The technical term for this is "Keynesian" economics.