Agreed with this, but this is something you can change later. This is not the final suggestion on balancing the budget from Obama or the Democrats just like Paul Ryan's proposal is not the final suggestion on balancing the budget from the Republicans.

Of course you understand how saying he will raise your taxes instead of just that rich guy taxes may be politically unwise right before a presidential election (especially when he campaign said the other wise in his first presidential election.) He can't politically say he will raise everyone's taxes to fix what most people see as a abstract problem they just don't understand. Most people don't know about the upcoming debt ceiling limit and how not pasting it will be disastrous from an economic level, most people could sorta understand the government shutting down though.

There are also other ways that are easy to raise taxes on the poor to create more revenue. For example a tax of 10 dollars per barrel of oil would raise about 65 billion per year of revenue which would translate into about 650 billion over 10 years or 1/3rd of difference Obama propose taxes vs Clinton past tax structure.


Something has to be done about Medicare and Medicaid. The problem you listed can be solved easily inside the institution and doesn't need a top down overhaul from the president to achieve this outcome, this is something that can be easily change from within the bureaucracy. Obama seems to be counting on changes within the bureaucracy and pilot programs to cut down the cost of medicare and medicaid.

Now please read this article about the two plans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/obamas-budget-is-policy-not-philosophy/2011/04/12/AFE1UQYD_blog.html

If changes within the bureaucracy and the pilot programs can't achieve these ends, there is a trigger that would automatically cut spending to overcome these budget shortfalls. In the end the budget problem of these programs get solved. Furthermore this won't be the last word by the congress or the future presidents, for if the trigger is invoked there will be congressional investigations in this area and the next congress will look at the problem and possibly try to change the programs in a way that find better political results for them.


The program is far more reasonable than the Paul Ryan plan is. It balances the budget faster, and doesn't completely screw the poor like Ryan's plan does, Ryan plan also pushes for a lower tax rate than we ever had under any president since WW2.

Now it seems your complaint is that Obama's plans don't go far enough. I agree with you on that, Obama is a politician and he must do what he needs to survive in a political environment. He only has to make his plan better than the other guy's plan, he only has to act more reasonable than the other guy. He only has this job for at most (if he wins re-election) 5 and a half more years after that it is somebody's else budgetary program .