President Obama: My Budget Doesn’t Spend More Money Than It Takes In
“My budget freezes spending for five years and what that does is, is it solves the short-term problem by saying, ‘we’re not going to spend any more money than we’re taking in,’” said the President to a television station in Cincinnati.
If that’s true, then why does his budget add about $11 trillion in new debt over the next decade?
Per ABC News, Obama’s budget doesn’t become revenue-neutral in five years. It calls for another $3.5 trillion in borrowing the next five years after that:
Even after the president’s proposed budget – with its optimistic prediction of 3.9% growth – achieves a point, in 2017, when spending is roughly equivalent to taxes coming into the government, the U.S. government will continue to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars a year to pay for interest on the national debt accrued until that point – including debt racked up during the Obama presidency.
Indeed, the U.S., according to Obama’s own budget projections, would borrow $627 billion in 2017 to pay the interest on past debt; $618 billion in 2018; $681 billion in 2019; $735 billion in 2020; and $774 billion in 2021.
Or: $3.435 trillion.
By the way, keep in mind that the true amount of borrowing will likely be worse as our economy isn’t likely to hit Obama’s rosy 3.9% growth numbers.
Tags: Barack Obama, deficits, national debt
