President Obama’s call for a spending freeze around the time of the SOTU address was widely reported and discussed. It would appear to not have much substance, as the new budget to be proposed on Monday predicts a record $1.6 trillion deficit as part of a $3.8 trillion total package.
Congressional aides are preparing to slog through an expected $3.8 trillion in spending to be proposed by President Obama on Monday when his fiscal year 2011 budget is delivered to Capitol Hill.
The proposed budget predicts the national deficit will crest at a record-breaking $1.6 trillion in the current fiscal year, then start to recede in 2011 to $1.3 trillion, a congressional official said Sunday.
Still, the administration’s new budget to be released Monday says deficits over the next decade will average 4.5 percent of the size of the economy, a level which economists say is dangerously high if not addressed, said the congressional official.While discretionary spending is indeed frozen (with some exceptions), it amounts to such a small percentage of the total budget as to be almost unnoticeable.
Of course the real situation is likely worse. Estimates of deficits so far have been shattered and I have no reason to believe this next estimate isn’t equally as conservative. Time will tell, but I can’t imagine that overspending by a staggering $1,600,000,000,000 is going to play well with a majority of Americans as they collectively tighten their belts in tough economic times.
