[wackdeafboy]

Pay as you go but obama urges you to save money!

During the first four months of his administration, President Obama has committed roughly $1 trillion in federal spending – a $787 billion economic recovery package, and $350 billion in money to bail out the nation’s banks. But on Tuesday, Mr. Obama was talking about saving money, not spending it.
Speaking from the East Room of the White House, the president announced he is sending legislation to Congress to restore the 1990s era “pay as you go’’ law, known as Paygo. The law, in effect from 1990 to 2002, required that any new entitlement spending or tax cuts be offset with by entitlement increases or tax cuts.
“The ‘pay as you go’ principle is very simple,’’ Mr. Obama said. “Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere. This principle guides responsible families managing a budget. And it is no coincidence that this rule was in place when we moved from record deficits to record surpluses in the 1990s - and that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record deficits that doubled the national debt.’’
But critics of Paygo say it is not simple at all. Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, said the Paygo law required Congress to make across-the-board cuts in entitlement spending at the end of any year in which the Congressional Budget Office found that Paygo requirements had not been met. He said lawmakers responded each time by passing another bill, waiving the Paygo requirements.
“Paygo is a gimmick,’’ Mr. Riedl said.
Mr. Obama has been under intense pressure from moderate and conservative House Democrats, the so-called “Blue Dogs,’’ to follow Paygo requirements, and an administration official said Tuesday that the lawmakers had been urging the president to throw his weight behind reviving the law. Mr. Obama said Tuesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat, supported the measure; Ms. Pelosi was on the podium with him in the East Room.
Peter Orszag, the administration’s budget director said, “What this is doing is saying we can’t dig the hole any deeper. As is well recognized all this does is prevent the hole from getting deeper — which by the way would be a significant accomplishment.”
But even if Paygo were restored, it would affect only future spending, without putting a dent in the projected $1.8 trillion federal deficit. Republicans ridiculed Mr. Obama’s event, citing the deficit and what they consider runaway spending.
“President Obama and Congressional Democrats telling Americans they are committed to budget discipline is like Charles Ponzi telling people to trust him with their money,’’ the Republican National Committee said in a statement to reporters.