TheLoop21.com

By: Lenny McAllister (Add to your loop)
Thu, 02/04/2010 - 01:00

President Obama's budget might not be as good as it sounds.

A closer look at the proposed budget from the White House may show this staunchest supporters that, well, it’s not what you think.

When President Obama presented his $3.8 trillion budget to the nation this week – not long after his State of the Union address that discussed a freeze for 2011 that will address the deficit – he was going to get a lot of opposition from many directions.

Those who have long-since argued for a balanced amendment to the Constitution will point to this proposal as another example of government run amok – and taking America's standing throughout the world with it.

Republicans, pro-big business advocates, and those making over $250k are going to be upset as well, as the president’s proposal sets into play a cycle of reversing tax cuts implemented by President G. W. Bush, instituting higher taxes on individuals (e.g., raising the capital gains tax by 5 percent), large financial institutions (e.g., a “financial crisis responsibility fee” worth $90 billion over 10 years, not exactly an incentive for Bank of America and others to grow their employment base in a recession), and select big businesses (e.g., a tax on gas, oil and coal companies worth $39 billion over the next decade.)

Now, you may think that this is ok because, after all, these folks gained advantages during the Bush Era that led to this recession. They “deserve” to pay more.

However, we have to look at the other side of the coin to see more of the story – namely, the aspects that impact more of us directly.

The populist-sounding president has, in fact, been taking a more grassroots tone over the past couple of weeks, waging his finger at both sides of the aisle in taking them to task over the obstacles of 2009 and the need for solutions in 2010.

He has also made it known throughout his presidency that he feels that America must be rebuilt from the bottom-up (in contrast to the “trickle down” approach of “Reaganomics” and, more recently, the Bush tax cuts), through education, jobs, and infrastructure improvements. As we know, all three are tied together. Without access to good education or jobs, there is no way to be active contributors or benefactors of any infrastructure improvements.

So, although Republicans and conservatives would argue the merits of free-market principles in addressing these issues, it would only make sense that big-government proponents under Obama would see their tenets reflected in his 2011 budget proposal, particularly to help the underclass that he feels is part of the “bottom-up” approach that we need to rebuild the nation.

Well, perhaps not, if the budget proposal from the White House is any indication.

Despite seeing increases in areas such as the Forest Service (1.4 percent increase), Global Health (9.4 percent increase), and NASA Exploration Activities (7.8 percent increase), the items that seem to impact the underprivileged the most in their struggle to improve their collective lot see a different fortune. Funding for initiatives such as the Education of the Disadvantaged (decrease of 31 percent), Higher Education (decrease of 5.5 percent), and Vocational Education (decrease of 3.6 percent) all would be cut if President Obama’s budget went through as-is.

Even recurring rhetorical themes in his speeches such as improving the status of poor-performing and run-down schools in the nation seem to pale against the Obama reality, as programs such as the School Improvement Fund (decrease of 65 percent) and SMART grants (decrease of 58 percent) take big hits in this budget proposal, contravening the president’s messages to the NAACP last summer and elsewhere that repeatedly noted the need to improve America’s schools to better equip American students for the jobs of today and tomorrow. Of course, this stays in line with his cuts to the DC Voucher program and HBCU funding of 2009 – programs that assisted the underprivileged in getting a sound education.

Small Business and Minority Business Assistance funding also saw a dip (almost 10 percent) in this proposal at a time when both are struggling mightily, even after the surge of federal money that went into super-banks for the sake of helping these same institutions survive the recession. Couple this with the cuts in spending on transportation and infrastructure pursuits (e.g., highways, mass transit), and it begs the question: if those in the underclass are unable to access the resources for a better education, or opportunities that keep their businesses afloat, or access avenues to benefit from any infrastructural development, how can they achieve the American Dream by forging pathways for success and better lifestyles for their children and grandchildren?

Perhaps that’s not something for them to worry about, particularly since funding does increase for TANF (by 9 percent), Section 8 (by 7.5 percent), Child Care (by 37 percent), public housing (by .4 percent), and food stamps (by 17 percent) – the very programs that often lock families into generations of poverty and despair without many opportunities to make money outside of a ball, a gun, or a pocket full of drugs.

At the same time the money is proposed to go towards Development Assistance (i.e., of other nations) (18 percent increase from 2010), Conservation Programs (8 percent increase), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (16 percent increase), and “Legislative Branch Discretionary Programs” (10 programs increase) – programs with value but perhaps not as much value as jobs and education for a growing underclass in America.

This seems to be in line with the president’s first year in office – putting funding into place for overseas abortion services in other countries while cutting education funding for needy children at home in America.

So, for $3 trillion in 2011, many of us can expect to get more pie-in-the-sky programs that may not touch our lives directly much at all, more welfare staples serve to lock people into generational poverty, and less boosts to aid in the process from poverty to prosperity.

If this ends up being so after rounds of congressional debate, many more of us may be feeling the “buyer’s remorse” for going along with this administration’s vision for the future, considering that its words to its numbers does not seem to equate or compute. For some, this proposal may just be a matter of bad math. For more of us, it would be a matter of more bad policies if the budget is approved– and perhaps, more bad times as well.

Lenny McAllister is a syndicated political commentator and the author of the book, “Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative,)” which can be purchased online at www.tinyurl.com/lennysdiary and www.amazon.com. Catch Lenny on Sirius-XM Radio’s “The New School” this weekend on satellite radio (check online for times in your area) and on “Both Sides of The Loop with Dr. Marvin King and Lenny McAllister” each week here at The Loop 21. Follow Lenny at www.twitter.com/lennyhhr , on Facebook at www.tinyurl.com/lennyfacebook , and daily at http://pycmusings.blogspot.com.

Is Obama compromising too much in the health care bill?

Yes, we need public option

No, he's keeping the peace

Republicans will block it anyway

Let's wait until the health care summit

I don't know