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"…We're very serious about working on a bipartisan basis to reduce those deficits or reduce those costs.” – 3/24/2009:
Frankly, had the stimulus bill been anything remotely close to something Republicans could support, we would have had met the President way farther than half way, due to the severity of the current economic situation and his popularity at the time (which is now falling quickly). But he didn't. The stimulus was so far to the left that not one Republican voted for it, and some of the more centrist Democrats voted against it too. But he hasn't stopped there. He has since declared that his "cap and trade" energy proposal (which will double the cost of electric and heating bills nationwide) is "non-negotiable." Yeah, way to gain consensus. Now, he is proposing to use a "nuclear option" in the Senate for “cap and trade,” and socialized medicine plans so that he will not need any Republican votes, and can afford to lose some centrist Democrats as well. His agenda is left of center of the Democratic Party, not to mention the nation.
"…we invest in reform that will bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and government... And in this budget, we have ..." 3/24/2009
He included an extra $600 billion in his budget to cover the extra costs of his healthcare plan. How is that bringing down costs?
"We are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression…" 10/07/2008
"We are beginning to see signs of recovery." - 3/24/2009:
When he wants to spend money, he overstates the state of the crisis. Then, if people start to lose confidence, he understates it.
"I will make a firm pledge: I pledge under my plan, no one making less than $250,000 a year will see any type of tax increase, not income tax, not capital gains taxes, not any kind of taxes," - 11/12/2008:
First of all, this is completely inaccurate on its face. The president's budget straight up limits tax deductions for incomes over $208,000 joint and $104,000 single. Furthermore, it imposes an energy tax (cap and trade) which is expected to double utility rates for everyone regardless of income. Additionally, the president is guilty by omission. There is no way he can spend the money he wants to without raising taxes on everyone at some point. You can confiscate all income over $250,000 (a more plausible idea after the bonus vote last week) and you would not balance the Democrat budget over the next 10 years. It would require a 30% increase in EVERY federal tax on EVERBODY, at EVERY level, in order to pay for the spending they want. That's 30% more social security tax, Medicare tax, income tax, corporate tax, capital gains tax, alternative minimum tax, etc. That's the real message in his budget.
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