It’s a laudable goal. But is it possible?

While full details of the budget won’t actually be hammered out and released until April, there is still a lot of interest in the possiblities. On the heels of a massive economic stimulus spending and tax cut package, what sorts of things can be done in order to curb spending and raise revenues. I think you know what’s coming. I expect some of the following to be addressed on Thursday (and maybe even tomorrow):

• Pulling back on the Iraq War.
• Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire.
• Making small increases to the capital gains tax.
• Cutting some “wasteful” government spending (however that is defined).

I’d like to think that this could work out. After all, I voted for Obama in part because I believe that focusing more on the middle class, providing a new method of health care, and focusing on job creation through improved infrastructure and a greener energy economy, are important measures and ultimately more beneficial to a prosperous economy than policy that is based almost entirely on tax cuts — and those mainly for the wealthiest. The bottom line is that Obama largely inherited this mess. And while I don’t agree with everything his administration is doing to try and fix it, I do think that those involved are on a slightly better track than the previous administration.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few days, weeks, months and years. And it will be interesting to see whether Obama’s “fiscal responsibility” promises end up being more believable than conservative “fiscal responsibility” actions that we’ve seen a great deal of since the 1980s. (After all, it was the Reagan Administration that popularized the practice of “acceptable” deficit spending.)

Do you think Barack Obama can really cut the annual deficit in half by the end of the current presidential term?

image credit: U.S. government.

Post from: EveryJoe

Can President Obama’s Budget Really Cut the Deficit in Half by 2013?