The Budget

The comfort I take in President Obama's budget is this: it seems honest and no budget has ever passed in the form it was originally conceived.

So much money...so many programs created and expanded...all of it on rosy outlooks for future growth and elimination and consolidation of underperforming programs.

I had fears during the election about candidate Obama's true nature. Was he a big government, tax and spend guy disguised by moderate rhetoric? Was he a true pragmatist who'd look around and say this just can't keep going like this?

Turns out that after a month of being a moderate, relatively bipartisan president, the tide has turned. President Obama is Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Roosevelt. After 8 years of a Republican president increasing the size of government now we have at least 4 years of a Democrat that will put President Bush to shame.

$1.75 trillion deficit.

Tripling of the national debt in his first term.

Dramatic social re-engineering.

Flaccid opposition.

I've managed to stay fairly optimistic about the new president and the prospects for the future economy until the last few days. Sadly, as is often the case, the more we get to know a person the more we find not to like.