By Luke Smyth, Special to the Chronicle
For the past couple of weeks, one of the dominant stories in the media has been the Obama administration's mammoth $3.8 trillion budget plan for the fiscal year of 2013.
Unfortunately, it is more of a campaign document instead of a serious fiscal plan. It does not take on entitlement reform, as opposed to the Ryan Plan introduced last fall to curb America's dangerous addiction to entitlements.
Obama's budget also cuts the military a whopping six percent at a time when the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) plans to double its military spending, and aims at kicking the United States out of the western Pacific as well as coercing its neighbors on territorial disputes. His main plan to generate revenue for the federal government is to raise taxes on the rich instead of looking at comprehensive reform to America's chaotic tax system.
While raising taxes on the rich to pay for entitlements is a popular idea with many, if not most, Americans, Obama's plan would only generate $1.5 trillion for the federal government; our total debt obligations, including all the state, municipal and federal liabilities is somewhere in the neighborhood of $44 to $100 trillion, according to Pacific Investment Management Company, LCC (PIMCO), the world largest mutual fund.
Instead of making tough decisions that would put America in position of strength, Obama often decides to do what is popular with his Democratic base, demonstrated by his veto of the Keystone Pipeline that would have created thousands of jobs and making our country more economically secure.
If the American people decide to give him a second mandate this fall, Obama should focus on governing instead of campaigning and portraying the Republican Party as "The Party of the Rich." The country can't afford otherwise, literally.