Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Obama's fiscal discipline yet to return

U.S. President Barack Obama has repeatedly pledged during the past year that his administration will return to fiscal discipline. However, his budget proposal for 2011 with a record deficit indicates that the U.S. fiscal policy remains what is called "talk the talk, spend the spend" way.

With an all-time high 1.56-trillion-U.S.-dollar deficit in fiscal year 2010 ending in September, the budget shortfall would equal an unsustainable 10.6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), the basic measure of a country's overall economic output.

"It's time to save what we can, spend what we must and live within our means once again," Obama said Monday as he unveiled his 3.8-trillion-dollar blueprint for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.

The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, said the Obama budget only means higher taxes, higher spending and more debt.

Among the major goals of Obama's new budget, creating jobs is the key concern.

The unemployment rate, currently at 10 percent, remains a 26-year high, and is not expected to drop significantly in the coming years. The budget documents forecast a 9.8-percent unemployment rate by the end of this year. Fighting unemployment has become one of the top priorities for the Obama administration.

The new budget proposal set a 100-billion-dollar job measure that would provide tax breaks to encourage businesses to boost hiring as well as greater government spending on infrastructure and energy projects.

Much of the spending surge over the past two years reflected the cost of the 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus measure that Congress passed in February 2009 to tackle the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Source : http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-02/02/c_13160035.htm

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