Is Obama risking reelection due to the U.S. budget?
Dancing with thy Congress
The government will possibly shut down on October 1 due to the House rejection of the stop-gap funding bill. The short-term budget bill defeat, proposed by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and described by opponents as a “fantasy” is considered a huge failure by Republican leaders, since not only did not meet the 218 votes needed to pass, but had 48 Republicans siding with Democrats to oppose the measure.
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Budget (CBO), Paul Ryan, stated that “there are parts of the budget process that are irredeemably broken, but other parts still work well, even if they could use improvement.” Ryan insists he is still waiting for “the President’s budget proposal.”
Although president Obama said “there was no reason why we should not get an agreement”, Boehner denied agreeing to cuts of $33 billion in spending for the rest of the year.
CBO reiterates that “instead of renewed prosperity, the President has offered us a plan for shared scarcity. The nation deserves better.”
Back in April, Obama described as “inexcusable” that the Government closed down due to “politics and ideology”. Ironically, Obama’s failure to launch achieving consensus in regards to the U.S. Budget has been influencing public’s opinion in regards to his reelection. In fact, a survey last August among Los Angeles Hispanic voters, showed that out 68 percent that voted for him, only 39 percent will still back him up for reelection. Who once took off as the “New Hope” is now described as “weak” and “immature”. Obama doesn’t fret.
He now moves forward with the “Jimmy Buffet Rule” which states that people making more than $1 million a year should not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay. Some economists interpret this as a special new tax for the rich. The White House denies it.
Currently, there are barely 22,000 households making more than one million annually. They pay less than 15 percent in income taxes, according to the IRS 2009 Statistics of Income file by the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Analysis.
According to the White House, the Buffett Rule should focus on limiting the degree to which the most well-off can take advantage of tax expenditures and preferences.
No money here, but 100 million dollars for an AFGHANISTAN museum?
What to make of it?
One could say Obama started out with noble intentions and got sucked into the system.
I mean, who's your daddy? 98 percent of the population that you don't see, or the 2% that paddles the rich boat with you? In the end, resolutions, legislation and out of the blue photo finish solutions are signed without the country even knowing.
On the other hand, government shutdown would mean maybe you and I not getting paid, but certainly not them. United States is being forced to cut its defense expenditures, for example, whereas China announced is revitalizing this very area in their own budget, by 12.7%. Is so not funny is scary really. How did we end up befriending who we refer to as the enemy?
The enemy within
Mr. President not only has to deal with the fact that he has to negotiate and basically ask for China's mercy, he is yet far to gain consensus with his fellow Americans, like Paul Ryan and his Path to Prosperity budget proposal.
According to The Economist, as analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office, Ryan's proposed "benefits would accrue overwhelmingly to the most affluent 20% of American families, mostly because Mr Ryan exempted capital gains and dividends from taxation." So, guess we are going to be in square one for a while.
