Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute tells National Review Online readers that he likes some pieces of President Obama’s budget proposal, but not enough to accept it.
While it is not exactly the compromise the media has portrayed it to be, the president’s budget is a serious proposal that takes some steps in the right direction. It is certainly a much better starting point for negotiations than the nonsense passed last month by Senate Democrats.
For example, President Obama really should be given credit for putting entitlement reform on the table. There can be no serious effort to balance the budget without tackling entitlements, but it’s not an easy thing for a Democrat to do. A politician willing to do what is right even when it is opposed by his own base is rare enough that he should be celebrated. The president’s proposals, further, may give Republicans a bit of political cover for their entitlement-reform plans.
Besides, anything that makes MoveOn.org and the AARP this angry can’t be all bad.
The president’s budget acknowledges our fiscal realities, but his reforms fall far short of the structural changes necessary to avoid catastrophic levels of debt. …
… In other areas, however, the president’s budget is a major disappointment. For example, like the Senate Democrats’ budget proposal, the president’s budget would never balance. It adds some $8 trillion to the national debt over ten years, meaning that by 2023 our gross debt will approach $25 trillion.
The president’s budget doesn’t balance, but it does increase both spending and — of course — taxes.
