Obama Budget Is Rainbows, Butterflies, and Unicorns

The ObamaAdministration’s 2015 proposed “Budget of the United States” promises the economywill grow at its fastest rate in a decade, unemployment will fall to theaverage of the Reagan Administration, and spending will rise at its lowestpercentage rate since the Clinton Administration.

As a math person I can assure readers there appears to be no arithmetical errors in the two-pound budget book. However, no one will take Obama’s budget proposal veryseriously because the projections that underlie his next year’s wish list are justmore Rainbows,Butterflies, and Unicorns.

Rainbows,Butterflies, and Unicorns (RBU) is an slang term used on Wall Street tosarcastically describe a situation in which expectations are unrealistic and onehas to put on a happy face regardless of personal opinions. This perfectly describes the president’s budget, which tries to celebrate a $500 billion deficit as a major accomplishment.

The HeritageFoundation describesObama’s proposed budget as “A Vision ThatBig and Expensive Government Is Necessary for American Success” because itviolates spending caps, fails toadequately prepare our men and women in uniform to effectively fight currentand future wars, and recklessly accelerates America’s path to insolvency.

It seems ratheradmirable that the Treasury Department’s published budget projections admit thatby 2024 under Obama’s plan federal spending rises from $3.5 trillion in 2013 tonearly $6 trillion, public debt leaps from $12 trillion in 2013 to $19 trillion, and the nationaldebt grows from $17.3 trillion today to $25 trillion in 2024. The treasury knows these grim deficit and debt loads would cause multiple downgrades of America’s credit rating.

The Administration’s ten-year estimates assume the economy consistently achieves high growth, despite$1.2 trillion in new and increased taxes. Thebudget also fancifully credits Obamacare with saving the federal government $1.2trillion over the next decade, especially bizarre when the administration grantedanother one-year extension for mandatory enrollment on Tuesday. The most preposterous “savings” are supposed tocome from the administration’s expectation the United States willsave $700 billion by avoiding any war-related spending in the next decade,despite Russian tanks rolling into the Ukraine.

Congress regularlytreats Barack Obama’s budget proposals as Rainbows, Butterflies, and Unicorns. The Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate unanimouslyrejected the President’s 2012 and 2013 budgets proposals, and the House ofRepresentatives followed their lead by unanimously voting 414-0 against Obama’s 2013 budget blueprint. Aftera couple days of media comments, the President’s 2015 RBU budget proposal isheaded for the trash can.

The author welcomes feedback @chriss@chrissstreetandcompany.com. Chriss Street is teaching microeconomic at University of California, Irvinethis spring from March 31 – June 8, 2014.Call Student Services at (949) 824-5414 or visit http://unex.uci.edu/courses toenroll!