/PRNewswire/ -- President Barack Obama receives high marks for his foreign policy while most Americans disagree with his handling of health care and the budget deficit, according to the Bloomberg National Poll, a quarterly survey of Americans.
While most Americans polled generally support Obama with a job-approval rating of 54 percent, he receives negative marks on many domestic issues. More than 50 percent of respondents say they disapprove of his plan to overhaul the health care system and even more, 57 percent, criticize his management of the federal budget deficit. In contrast, he receives strong support for his approach to foreign policy, 62 percent of Americans approve of his decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and 59 percent approve of the way he is managing relations with other countries.
The economy is still the country's top concern with 8 out of 10 Americans rating joblessness as a high risk to the economic performance in the next two years, outranking the federal budget deficit, which was cited by 7 out of 10.
Despite concerns with Obama's handling of the economy, health care and the deficit, Americans appear to still be allowing him a honeymoon period to address these issues, with 60 percent saying the nation's economic problems are mostly the result of decisions he inherited, according to the Bloomberg National Poll, which interviewed a random sample of 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 or older, for a snapshot of Americans' thoughts on Obama's administration and the economy.
The Bloomberg National Poll was conducted by Selzer & Company, whose survey of Iowa Caucus voters in 2008 was the only one to accurately predict Barack Obama's victory. The firm has conducted surveys for more than two dozen major newspapers in the U.S., and was named the best of 32 polling firms ranked by polling Web site FiveThirtyEight.com. Poll results are available at www.bloomberg.com.
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Showing posts with label budget deficit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budget deficit. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Anxiety Rises Over Democrats' Unchecked Spending, Historic Deficits
The Democrats’ spending binge in Washington is catching up with them. After five months of unfettered spending, taxing, and borrowing, the American people have grown weary of an agenda that is plunging the nation into deeper debt and sticking our children and grandchildren with the tab. Two new national polls are making news this morning by detailing Americans’ increasing concerns about the deficit – and Democrats’ lack of any plan to deal with it. Here are the highlights:
Wall Street Journal/NBC News: “President Barack Obama faces new concerns among the American public about the budget deficit and government intervention in the economy as he works to enact ambitious health and energy legislation, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. A solid majority – 58% – said that the president and Congress should focus on keeping the budget deficit down.”
New York Times/CBS News: “The poll highlights the political and governing challenges on the horizon for Mr. Obama, including the towering federal budget deficit, which is expected to push the national debt to levels that many economists say could threaten the economy’s long-term vitality. Six in 10 people surveyed said the administration has yet to develop a clear plan for dealing with the deficit, including 65 percent of independents.”
Think about the rather dubious fiscal record Washington Democrats have amassed this year. The trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill, the $400 billion “omnibus” spending bill loaded with 9,000 unscrutinized earmarks, the $3.6 trillion budget, and the seemingly endless bailouts bankrolled by overburdened taxpayers. And what have families and small businesses gotten for these multi-trillion dollar investments? Aside from a hefty tab, not much. For example, the Administration promised that unemployment would not rise above eight percent if Congress passed its trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill. The bill is now law, yet unemployment tops nine percent, with the President now admitting that it’s likely to increase above 10 percent too. Where are the jobs? Is it any wonder why Americans are fed up with the borrowing and spending?
House Republicans proposed a better solution to create twice as many jobs as the Democrats’ “stimulus” bill promised at half the cost, as well as a budget alternative that would curb spending, create jobs by cutting taxes, and control the debt. Unfortunately, Democrats balked at both, choosing a go-it-alone approach that has plunged our nation into historic debt.
Now, as Democrats barrel ahead with a costly government takeover of health care – with a price tag of at least $1 trillion and an impact of at least 23 million Americans being kicked off their current health care plan – and a national energy tax on anyone who drives a car, buys an American-made product, or flips on a light switch, House Republicans are proposing better solutions once again. House Republicans yesterday outlined a health care reform plan to reduce costs, expand access, and increase the quality of care in a way that Americans can afford. And last week, they rolled out the American Energy Act to clean up the environment, reduce energy costs, and create more American jobs.
As Americans’ anxiety over spending deepens, will Democrats finally admit that their arrogant culture of spending, taxing, and borrowing cannot continue and work with Republicans on responsible plans to create jobs and control the deficit? Or will they continue marching forward with even more irresponsible plans that drown future generations in more red ink?
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Wall Street Journal/NBC News: “President Barack Obama faces new concerns among the American public about the budget deficit and government intervention in the economy as he works to enact ambitious health and energy legislation, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds. A solid majority – 58% – said that the president and Congress should focus on keeping the budget deficit down.”
New York Times/CBS News: “The poll highlights the political and governing challenges on the horizon for Mr. Obama, including the towering federal budget deficit, which is expected to push the national debt to levels that many economists say could threaten the economy’s long-term vitality. Six in 10 people surveyed said the administration has yet to develop a clear plan for dealing with the deficit, including 65 percent of independents.”
Think about the rather dubious fiscal record Washington Democrats have amassed this year. The trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill, the $400 billion “omnibus” spending bill loaded with 9,000 unscrutinized earmarks, the $3.6 trillion budget, and the seemingly endless bailouts bankrolled by overburdened taxpayers. And what have families and small businesses gotten for these multi-trillion dollar investments? Aside from a hefty tab, not much. For example, the Administration promised that unemployment would not rise above eight percent if Congress passed its trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending bill. The bill is now law, yet unemployment tops nine percent, with the President now admitting that it’s likely to increase above 10 percent too. Where are the jobs? Is it any wonder why Americans are fed up with the borrowing and spending?
House Republicans proposed a better solution to create twice as many jobs as the Democrats’ “stimulus” bill promised at half the cost, as well as a budget alternative that would curb spending, create jobs by cutting taxes, and control the debt. Unfortunately, Democrats balked at both, choosing a go-it-alone approach that has plunged our nation into historic debt.
Now, as Democrats barrel ahead with a costly government takeover of health care – with a price tag of at least $1 trillion and an impact of at least 23 million Americans being kicked off their current health care plan – and a national energy tax on anyone who drives a car, buys an American-made product, or flips on a light switch, House Republicans are proposing better solutions once again. House Republicans yesterday outlined a health care reform plan to reduce costs, expand access, and increase the quality of care in a way that Americans can afford. And last week, they rolled out the American Energy Act to clean up the environment, reduce energy costs, and create more American jobs.
As Americans’ anxiety over spending deepens, will Democrats finally admit that their arrogant culture of spending, taxing, and borrowing cannot continue and work with Republicans on responsible plans to create jobs and control the deficit? Or will they continue marching forward with even more irresponsible plans that drown future generations in more red ink?
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Friday, March 20, 2009
Statement of Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, on the New Report From the Congressional Budget Office
/PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Robert Greenstein, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the new report from the Congressional Budget Office:
Today's disturbing report from the Congressional Budget Office projects larger budget deficits over the next ten years than the President's budget estimates, mainly because the economy is weaker than the Obama Administration and many private forecasters projected just a few months ago.
These findings should send two messages to policymakers: First, they should not make the recession, which CBO now projects will be the worst since World War II, even deeper by reducing federal expenditures in 2010 well below the levels that President Obama has proposed. Doing so would result in less demand for goods and services at a time when the CBO report makes clear the economy will continue to need a large boost. Second, policymakers should adopt measures now -- to take effect when the economy recovers -- to begin addressing the vast projected deficits of future years and decades and moving us off a fiscally unsustainable path.
While deficits will decline after this year's record level, they will not shrink to economically sustainable levels without significant changes in policy. That ought to encourage policymakers to step up to the plate and adopt the President's proposals to rein in costly and unproductive subsidies in both the spending and tax sides of the budget -- such as by eliminating Medicare Advantage overpayments and achieving other Medicare savings, and by curbing a plethora of special-interest tax loopholes -- or to come up with alternative proposals that save as much, are as sound economically, and are as fair.
The new CBO figures also underscore the need for policymakers not to go beyond the President's proposals for extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and for making the estate tax permanent at its 2009 parameters. Extending costly tax cuts for people above $250,000 or further eviscerating the estate tax would swell deficits even more, while benefiting only a tiny fraction of Americans at the top of the income scale.
Finally, based on today's report, policymakers should view the Obama proposals as just the first step on the path of deficit reduction. In the not-too-distant future, policymakers will need to move well beyond their current positions on both taxes and spending and put everything on the table, in order to achieve deficit reduction that will be necessary -- and unavoidable -- if we are to avert serious long-term economic damage.
-----
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Today's disturbing report from the Congressional Budget Office projects larger budget deficits over the next ten years than the President's budget estimates, mainly because the economy is weaker than the Obama Administration and many private forecasters projected just a few months ago.
These findings should send two messages to policymakers: First, they should not make the recession, which CBO now projects will be the worst since World War II, even deeper by reducing federal expenditures in 2010 well below the levels that President Obama has proposed. Doing so would result in less demand for goods and services at a time when the CBO report makes clear the economy will continue to need a large boost. Second, policymakers should adopt measures now -- to take effect when the economy recovers -- to begin addressing the vast projected deficits of future years and decades and moving us off a fiscally unsustainable path.
While deficits will decline after this year's record level, they will not shrink to economically sustainable levels without significant changes in policy. That ought to encourage policymakers to step up to the plate and adopt the President's proposals to rein in costly and unproductive subsidies in both the spending and tax sides of the budget -- such as by eliminating Medicare Advantage overpayments and achieving other Medicare savings, and by curbing a plethora of special-interest tax loopholes -- or to come up with alternative proposals that save as much, are as sound economically, and are as fair.
The new CBO figures also underscore the need for policymakers not to go beyond the President's proposals for extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and for making the estate tax permanent at its 2009 parameters. Extending costly tax cuts for people above $250,000 or further eviscerating the estate tax would swell deficits even more, while benefiting only a tiny fraction of Americans at the top of the income scale.
Finally, based on today's report, policymakers should view the Obama proposals as just the first step on the path of deficit reduction. In the not-too-distant future, policymakers will need to move well beyond their current positions on both taxes and spending and put everything on the table, in order to achieve deficit reduction that will be necessary -- and unavoidable -- if we are to avert serious long-term economic damage.
-----
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www.georgiafrontpage.com
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