The federal budget: Phoney war

"The real battle, over health care, is just beginningTHE first hundred days were busy, Barack Obama noted, but the pace would be just as hectic in the second hundred: they would be spent building “a library dedicated to my first hundred days”. The president delivered the joke at the White House press corps’ annual shindig, but it makes an apt metaphor for the past week. He and his officials have released a blizzard of tax and health-care proposals that largely repackage, or add detail to, the ambitious draft budget he released in February. That draft sought to extend health insurance to the millions of Americans who lack it, cut taxes for the majority of workers and spend more on education and energy research. To pay for it, Mr Obama would raise taxes on the rich and on corporations, cut wasteful programmes and auction off permits to emit carbon dioxide. ..." (2009-5-14)
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