Obama To Focus On Deficit In SOTU Address

According to Politico.com, the Obama Administration is planning January's SOTU address to be focused on deficit reduction. This is the equivalent to a heroin addict saying they'll quit tomorrow, but only after getting one last big fix. In just nine months this administration has spent more than the Clinton Administration spent in 8 years of office.

Additionally, there is no evidence Democrats are willing to aggressively cut the biggest parts of the budget, such as entitlement programs and defense. Former President Bill Clinton told Senate Democrats at their policy lunch this week that one of the biggest reasons to finish health care is to allow Obama to focus on economic concerns next year – in part with more spending. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said afterward that Clinton had advised getting health care out of the way to “clear the tables and allow the focus to be on jobs and education and infrastructure.” None of that is free.

This concern will be difficult for the country to swallow especially after this Democratically controlled Congress has passed the four largest spending bills in our history, the stimulus package, the TARP bailouts, the health care seizure and "cap & trade" bill that they plan to use to address global warming.

All of these bills have, or will add a huge amounts to the deficit and concomitantly to the debt. The only way at this point to balance the budget with this legislation will be to pass tremendous tax increases. During a period of economic down turn, tax increases are the death knell to recovery. Additionally, there is no reason to believe that Democrats are considering cuts to the most expensive parts of the budget, such as entitlement programs which are already underfunded as it is. They've already imperiled defense spending by reducing spending of inventories of spare parts, and training.

So, I think that next year, instead of a recovering economy what we will face is one that will grow steadily worse as Congress and this Administration continue to spend like drunken sailors. Mr. Obama certainly won't veto ANY spending bills that allow Democratic Congressmen to say "look what I'm bringing home to you". On the other hand, during the past election campaign, he did state unequivocally that he was for "income redistribution". America, brace yourselves, it's going to be a rough year.