Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Obama the Deficit Hawk?

A story I found on Vox Popoli:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Pointing with concern to "red ink as far as the eye can see," President-elect Barack Obama pledged Wednesday to tackle out-of-control Social Security and Medicare spending and named a special watchdog to clamp down on other federal programs - even as he campaigned anew to spend the largest pile of taxpayer money in history to revive the sinking economy.
And...

On Wednesday, he made good on a campaign promise and introduced his choice for a new White House post he is creating: chief performance officer. Nancy Killefer, a professional efficiency expert, is charged with scouring the federal budget to eliminate programs that don't work and improve those that do. Obama called her appointment "among the most important that I will make."

"We committed to changing the way our government in Washington does business so that we're no longer squandering billions of tax dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness or exist solely because of the power of a lobbyist or an interest group," Obama said.

It's often remarked that the biggest changes in government occur when a President betrays his party's policy preferences. Nixon went to communist China, not a Democrat, etc. Kudos to Vox for predicting Obama might turn out to be a budget hawk.

Will Obama be the guy who balances the budget and breaks the bad news to retirees? Certainly next year it will be pretty much impossible. I'm not sure he can do it even if he gets 8 years. I do not think it is possible. I think the US and the dollar is already doomed. But we shall have to see..

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