When President Obama revealed his 2012 budget proposal on Monday, many people bristled at what was being suggested. The budget makes cuts in several key areas, and is expected to face stiff resistance in Congress.
Among the most severe victims of Obama's new budget were domestic programs, such as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The budget would also include a significant tax increase, as one third of the proposed deficit cuts would come from additional tax revenue.
The plan has been received frostily on both sides of the aisle.
Liberals believe he is making too many cuts to social programs, and would like to see Obama make cuts in other areas, such as the defense budget. Conservatives, meanwhile, think Obama isn't cutting enough from the budget, and that more should be done to eliminate wasteful spending.
Naturally, this divide puts Obama in something of a bind. With the economy still recovering, budget cuts are both understandable and necessary. In order to make ends meet, certain things will have to fall by the wayside.
When looking at the proposed budget, it is worth noting that it would still add $7.2 trillion to the public debt between 2012 and 2021.
America has fallen very deeply in debt, and it would be unrealistic to think the problem could be stopped without some severe spending cuts.
With that said, The Spectrum doesn't agree with what the Republicans are saying, either. The fact is, in order to make the extreme amount of spending cuts that they are proposing, Obama would have to cut from areas such as defense spending, an area in which Republicans have historically been opposed to any reduction.
In addition, Obama could also increase revenue for the budget by raising taxes on major corporations, such as oil companies.
He could also raise taxes on the top two percent, which he had originally planned to do before Republicans threatened to filibuster, leading to a compromise during the lame duck session.
Considering that Republicans would more than likely object to the most obvious means of cutting money from the budget, it seems hypocritical of them to criticize Obama for not taking enough from the budget.
Budget cuts are never popular, so it's understandable that neither party is particularly enthused with what is being proposed. But with the economy still recovering, these cuts are simply a fact of life.
Anyone who's ever had to save money knows that being frugal isn't always fun, but in times like these, it is what must be done.
