As numbers fly in, nothing breaks glass quite like President Barack Obama’s most recent $3.8 billion budget plan for 2011, which tops the national deficit at $1.6 trillion dollars, according to msnbc.com. The plan is designed to increase job availability and restructure government funding in order to decrease the economic downturn, but the startling numbers worry nervous economists.
The budget, while spending billions towards improving employment rates, would spike taxes considerably as an estimated 4.5 percent of the nation’s economy in the next decade would match deficit. The plan also halts many governmental programs, a concern students are beginning to realize here on campus with teachers being laid off and complete programs being cut nationwide.
The budget’s premises focus on aiding struggling businesses, Social Security funding, and economically depressed states. Additionally, though tax refunds face cancellation in the near future, Obama plans to continue tax breaks for middle-class families through the projected budget year in 2011.
As arguments arise among political parties and future election tactics for the following year circulate, Obama defends his proposed budget by claiming the nation’s debt was not of his own accord, and in order to improve the nation’s economic situation – reaching heights of the 1930’s – funding must first be invested in order to see growth.
With such large numbers, balance is key in establishing a working system. While some programs will stagnate in spending, some, such as education, will reap benefits. Overall, Obama hopes to decrease spending by $250 billion by 2020.
Consequently, tensions among Republicans arose predominantly over increased taxes and decreased tax deductions of the wealthy. Obama plans to continue tax reductions for low-income families while cutting the proposed tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 for many. In response to tax terms creating cross-party unease, Robert Gibbs, White House spokesman, believes officials must focus on the crucial issues, employment landing on top, in order to bring the nation into stability.