Geithner Now Pushing "Won't Raise Taxes in a Recession" Falsehood

They are using budget number that have been described as disconnected to reality and of course cap and trade is a regressive tax on all of us.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's top economic officials on Tuesday vigorously defended the administration's $3.6 trillion budget against Republican claims that it contained overly optimistic economic assumptions and included stealthy tax increases that could end up hitting most Americans.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, in separate appearances on Capitol Hill, stuck to the administration line that the president's budget would benefit 95 percent of working Americans.

Higher taxes for affluent Americans would not come until 2011 once "we are safely into recovery," Geithner told the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

"I'm confident this is the right path for the country," Geithner said.

But Republicans argued that the portion of the budget that would require polluters to purchase permits from the government for their greenhouse gas emissions would essentially impose huge new energy costs on all consumers and businesses.

"The president's budget increases taxes on every American, and does so during a recession," Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., told Geithner.

Of course they are, but in a heartening development the GOP is actually attacking the credibility of the Obama Admin:

"It looks like somebody's cooking the books," Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told Geithner.

Yes they certainly are and the making work pay tax credit that Obama and supporters are always talking about will not cover the increase in costs that Obama is foisting on all of us. Reality is that the so called 250,000 dollar number will be shifted downward as the rich begin their capital flight, drop out of the sytem, or end up making 249,000 a year. At least papers are starting to tag the president on this:

WSJ:The Obama Economy

As the Dow keeps dropping, the President is running out of people to blame

As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama's policies have become part of the economy's problem.