In order to justify his massive spending bills, Barack Obama claims that raising taxes is “savings” and the economy will grow like a chia pet on steroids as soon as his policies take effect.

It’s all dishonest. Barack Obama must know it is dishonest.

The claim that raising taxes is “savings” can only be made when it is assumed that the money belongs to the government in the first place. As an example, a company can reduce costs by reducing salaries and reducing salaries is a cost savings. A company invests in capital and labor to produce wealth. Salaries and benefits are part of that investment.

The same is not true with the government. The government is not in the business of producing wealth. The government redistributes wealth (much to my chagrin), but they do not produce.

Let me back up. That is how a conservative views the world. A conservative believes in individual pursuits and individual rights. A liberal sees a collective society where everyone works for a common cause. To a liberal, a citizen’s ability to work and produce was enabled by society and therefore the wages earned are rightly due to that society. How much an individual owes society is dependent upon how far left the viewpoint is. Communists believe that the worker owes everything to society. Democrats in the United States see it more as your patriotic duty to give up your rights and earned income. Either way, people on the left don’t put much emphasis on individual pursuits…or greed in liberal-speak.

Barack Obama obviously is in this court. The money workers earn is not theirs to keep. It belongs to the common cause. The people as a collective therefore have a right to determine how much is kept. This is how the conclude that reducing the payment (salary after taxes) to high income earners is a savings for the government.

The remainder of the justification for his budget says that the economy not only will rebound, but it will grow at an extrordinary pace. According to White House budget projections, the economy will grow by 3.2% in 2010(LINK). The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO)  is projecting 1.5%. We are not talking about a point or two. The administration’s projections are more than double the CBOs.

It’s one thing to have the audacity of hope. It is quite another thing to base a budget on hope. So much for an era of responsibility.

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