OPINION:
President Obama’s bogus $3.8 trillion budget, containing a 0.2 percent spending increase and a 17.5 percent increase in taxes, was specifically prepared to be rejected by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives while solidifying the Obama re-election base (“How Obama will waste your money,” Comment & Analysis, Wednesday).
The increase in taxes will come from the expiration of the George W. Bush tax cuts, which will fall on the middle class, eliminating deserved tax deductions for oil, gas and coal companies and ensuring that small-business job creators will pay at least 30 percent in taxes.
When Mr. Obama said he would cut the deficit in half by the end of this first term, did he mean the annual deficit or the national debt? Deficit is debt. A $1.3 trillion budget deficit/debt would increase the national debt from $15.3 trillion to $16.6 trillion.
Coupled with raising the cost of energy, the rising cost of living and job losses, the political double-talk becomes an economic double-cross.
Meanwhile, the president wants to extend unemployment benefits and the payroll-tax holiday for the remainder of the election year, further draining the Social Security trust fund simply to make it appear he is cutting taxes and helping the unemployed. Meanwhile, he will be cooking the unemployment rate to force it below 9 percent when the actual rate is closer to 15 percent.
DANIEL B. JEFFS
Apple Valley, Calif.
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