New Deficit Plan? What New Deficit Plan?

After a Speech Big on Rhetoric and Absent of Details, Americans Must Rely on Obama’s Record to See if He’s Serious About Cutting Spending

Speaking Wednesday in a highly touted speech on deficit reduction, President Obama managed to continue to profess his seriousness about reducing the deficit:

“This debate over budgets and deficits is about more than just numbers on a page, more than just cutting and spending. It’s about the kind of future we want. It’s about the kind of country we believe in. And that’s what I want to talk about today.” (“Obama’s Speech on Reducing the Budget,” The New York Times, 4/13/2011)

Much like Obama’s vague earlier pronouncements on deficit reduction, his latest speech does the same, pledging to “borrow” from the Bowles-Simpson recommendations without any specifics as to what he would borrow:

“Today, I’m proposing a more balanced approach to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over twelve years. It’s an approach that borrows from the recommendations of the bipartisan Fiscal Commission I appointed last year, and builds on the roughly $1 trillion in deficit reduction I already proposed in my 2012 budget.” (“Obama’s Speech on Reducing the Budget,” The New York Times, 4/13/2011)

Given this lack of detail, the president is effectively doubling-down on his support for the same old tired ideas in his budget that guts Medicare by cutting benefits, according to the Obama-appointed trustees of Medicare:

MEDICARE PART A BANKRUPT BY 2029: “The HI [Hospital Insurance Trust] fund still fails the test of short-range financial adequacy, as projected annual assets drop below projected annual expenditures…by 2012. The fund also continues to fail the long range test of close actuarial balance.” (Timothy F. Geithner, Hilda L. Solis, Kathleen Sebelius, and Michael J. Astrue, “A Summary of the 2010 Annual Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund Reports,” Social Security Online, Accessed 3/15/2011)

23 PERCENT PAYROLL TAX HIKE AND STEEP CUTS TO BENEFITS: “Over 75 years, HI’s [the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund’s] estimated actuarial imbalance is 23 percent as large as payroll taxes, and 16 percent as large as program outlays.” (Timothy F. Geithner, Hilda L. Solis, Kathleen Sebelius, and Michael J. Astrue, “A Summary of the 2010 Annual Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund Reports,” Social Security Online, Accessed 3/15/2011)

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ACTUARIES: 15 PERCENT CUT IN BENEFITS. “The projected HI deficit over the next 75 years is 0.66 percent of taxable payroll, down from last year’s estimate of 3.88 percent. Eliminating this deficit would require an immediate 23 percent increase in payroll taxes or an immediate 15 percent reduction in benefits—or some combination of the two. Delaying action would require more drastic tax increases or benefit reductions in the future.” (“Issue Brief: Medicare’s Financial Condition: Beyond Actuarial Balance,” American Academy of Actuaries, Nov. 2010)

Meanwhile, Obama reiterated his belief that tax increases should feature prominently in a debt reduction package. Coupled with his vague support for the fiscal commission recommendations, can Americans then assume he supports hiking taxes on gasoline, Social Security, higher Medicaid co-pays and the elimination of middle class tax deductions?:

“INCREASE THE SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTION CEILING.” (Megan Carpentier, “Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Simpson and Bowles Release Eye-Popping Recommendations,”Talking Points Memo DC, 11/10/2010)

“RAISING THE FEDERAL GAS TAX BY 15 CENTS PER GALLON.” (Megan Carpentier, “Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Simpson and Bowles Release Eye-Popping Recommendations,”Talking Points Memo DC, 11/10/2010)

“INCREASE MEDICAID CO-PAYS.” (Megan Carpentier, “Fiscal Commission Co-Chairs Simpson and Bowles Release Eye-Popping Recommendations,” Talking Points Memo DC, 11/10/2010)

ELIMINATING TAX DEDUCTIONS: “[Bowles-Simpson] lays out options for overhauling the tax code that include limiting or eliminating the mortgage interest deduction, the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit.” (Jackie Calmes, “Panel Seeks Social Security Cuts and Higher Taxes,” The New York Times, 11/10/2010)

SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT CUTS: “The plan calls for… benefit cuts and an increased retirement age for Social Security.” (Jackie Calmes, “Panel Seeks Social Security Cuts and Higher Taxes,” The New York Times, 11/10/2010)

We don’t know because Obama refused to give specifics. No wonder independent commentators are already dismissing the seriousness of Obama’s latest bid:

NBC’S CHUCK TODD: “I wouldn’t say there’s a big surprise. … There are some that will say the president laid out a vision and called for yet another commission. But in this case it is a commission of people that actually have to vote on these proposals. It’s my understanding it’s going to be a bipartisan group of members of the congress led by Vice President Biden to come up with this plan. I guess the fact that we’re going on yet another commission — likeyou shake your head going, how many commissions is this going to take.”(Remarks from NBC’s Chuck Todd, MSNBC’s News Nation, 4/13/2011)