This week President Obama unveiled a $4.1 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2017 that takes everything into account except economic reality.
If you value a balanced budget then you won't be impressed with this plan, which racks up $9.8 trillion in deficits over the next ten years. The lavish spending programs include the usual slew of Obama's global-warming schemes, including a $32 billion green-transportation program. Think of it as a nationwide extension of California's green energy plan - since that has worked out so well for us. The President's transport program will be funded with an oil tax of $10 per barrel, which will raise the price of gasoline by about 24 cents per gallon. That measure is among nearly $3 trillion in tax hikes proposed in the budget.
So if you want to pay higher taxes, pay more for gasoline, and you don't think our $19 trillion national debt is enough, then this is a good budget for you. As for me, I'll be opposing it.
Separately, two months after killing the final opportunity for Congress to pass a compromise California water bill that would have allowed us to capture more water from the current El Niño rains, Senator Diane Feinstein recently introduced a new water bill in the Senate. Although the bill would not deliver much water to the Central Valley, it could pave the way for a new compromise bill. It must first pass the Senate, however, where water bills typically go to die. But if the Senator succeeds in passing the bill, she will have partners in the House of Representatives ready and willing to act - again.
