Dear Editor:
In a recent Viewpoint, Dale McFeatters discusses comments by Ben Bernanke. I take issue with some of Mr. McFeatters statements.Â
McFeatters says "Significant tax increases, beyond those that took effect at the beginning of the year, are unlikely." I suggest that Obamacare may be the largest tax increase in our history. (According to the Supreme Court Obamacare is either a tax or it is unconstitutional.) Obamacare is yet another massive income redistribution scheme pushed upon us by the federal government. Health care premiums will rise for those who currently have health insurance and others will be forced to purchase a product they don't think they need.
In terms of the need for tax increases I refer you to Obama's 2014 budget proposal. It estimates federal receipts of $2.71 trillion for 2013. That will be the most that the federal government has ever taxed us. It does not even include other government-mandated income redistribution schemes such as Obamacare and the great cell phone give-away (we pay for the "free" cell phones with a mandated surcharge on our cell phones.
McFeatters further states, "the sophomore and freshmen classes of House Republicans, are eager to inflict further cuts in the federal budget, beyond the already damaging cuts made by the across-the-board slashes in government spending under an ill-advised sequester enacted last year." McFeatters must be drunk on the same Kool-Aid that the progressive/liberals in D.C. drink.
First, and foremost, the federal government has not cut spending. While it has shifted spending between areas, reducing spending in some areas and increasing spending in other areas, net federal government spending has increased. We are no longer paying for wars in Iran and Afghanistan, we are no longer funding the massive give-away stimulus spending and yet federal spending still increases.
Again, referring to Obama's proposed 2014 budget, it estimates post-stimulus 2013 spending to be $3.68 trillion, the most ever spent by the federal government. It projects spending to increase to $3.78 trillion in fiscal 2014 and further to $$3.91 trillion in 2015. Even after adjusting for inflation federal spending in 2013 will be 50 percent more than it was in fiscal 2001, the last budget of the Clinton presidency.
No clear thinking person can possibly claim that the federal government has cut spending. Nor can they believe that huge additions to the current massive federal debt will provide a stable, long term recovery.