Obama Offer Spending Freeze as CBO Says this Year’s Budget Deficit to hit $1.5 TRILLION!!!

$1.5 TRILLION!!!

The CBO,  Congressional Budget Office, has predicted that this years federal budget defict will be 1.5 trillion, with a “T”.  This is the forecast and all President Obama offered in last night’s SOTU speech was to “freeze” discretionary spending for the next five years. That’s it, a freeze? Sorry, much more is going to have to be done than a freeze. Let’s see if Obama provides any leadership to do the tough work or is he just worried about reelection.

A new estimate predicts the federal budget deficit will hit almost $1.5 trillion this year, a stunning new record.

The latest figures from the Congressional Budget Office are up from previous estimates because Congress and President Barack Obama teamed up in December on bipartisan legislation to extend Bush-era tax cuts that were due to expire. The new estimates will only add fuel to a raging debate over cutting spending and looming legislation that’s required to allow the government to borrow more money.

As reported at The Hill, the increase in the deficit would bring it to 9.8 percent of gross domestic product. The CBO’s projections assume that current laws remain unchanged.

The CBO’s projections assume that current laws remain unchanged. If the nation continues on its current path, the CBO said, the total national debt will rise from 40 percent of GDP in 2008 to 70 percent by the end of 2011, reaching 77 percent of GDP by 2021.

Other bleak news from our economy after Obama stated that “the state of the nation” was good.

• New-home sales in 2010 fall to lowest in 47 years.

The Commerce Department says sales for all of 2010 totaled 321,000, a drop of 14.4 percent from the 375,000 homes sold in 2009. It was the fifth consecutive year that sales have declined after hitting record highs for the five previous years when the housing market was booming.

Economists say it could be years before sales hit a healthy rate of 600,000 units a year.

• DOLLAR CRUMBLES After Obama’s Disappointing SOTU Performance
• 9.4% Unemployment when everyone knows that the actual rate is much higher.
• Underemployment at near 20%. (Gallup poll)