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Biden Presents a 158-Page Budget for 2023, Mostly a Free Money Rehash of Build Back Better

Biden’s budget proposal from WhiteHouse.Gov

Fiscal Year 2023 Budget of the U.S.  

Here is the 158-page Fiscal Year 2023 Budget of the United States Government

The first 50 pages are mostly self-congratulations on US progress kicking off with this statement from Biden. 

“This progress was no accident. It was a direct result of the new economic vision for America I ran on—to build our economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”

The president touts infrastructure, Covid-19, and totally nonsensical promotion of “bipartisan unity.” 

He claims to fight inflation when reality is just the opposite. He touts aggressive action on climate despite being rebuffed in the Senate. 

The first 50 pages are among the biggest hype over minimal progress in history. 

Biden’s Biggest Success

Ironically, the president’s biggest success is failure. 

His Build Back Better (BBB) proposals were so bad that a pair of Democrat Senators, but mostly Joe Manchin of West Virginia could not stomach them. 

I salute the president for BBB ideas so bad none of them passed. That’s quite a success over what might have been had he not been 110% in the pockets of the extreme progressives. 

Thus, we also owe a bit of gratitude to Senator Elizabeth Warren, House wonderkid AOC, and Pramila Jayapal, the leader of the House Progressive Caucus. 

Had they not insisted on all-or-nothing with Biden going along, who knows what kind of pathetic compromises might have passed. 

With that summary of genuine success out of the way, let’s look at budget proposals for more spending starting on page 100. 

Key Budget Items

  • $5.8 trillion budget
  • $813 billion for military spending,  roughly a 4% increase from the $782 billion enacted for fiscal year 2022. If enacted, it will be the largest military budget in history. Warmongers will cheer.
  • Not remotely abandoning BBB, Biden proposes the top income bracket to be raised to 39.6% from 37% and the corporate tax rate to be raised to 28% from 21%.
  • $3.3 billion for green energy projects, $18 billion for climate resilience programs,  $11 billion in international climate finance, $200 million for new solar manufacturing.  
  • $50 billion for new construction.
  • $6.9 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative
  •  $17.4 billion for law enforcement at the Justice Department, including $1.7 billion for efforts to combat gun trafficking

Funding

To help fund the spending Biden seeks a 20 percent minimum tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires. This minimum tax would apply only to the wealthiest 0.01 percent of households—those with more than $100 million—and over half the revenue would come from billionaires alone.

Biden wants to reduce the deficit in half. That would make the deficit roughly $500 billion.

Critically, my Budget would also keep our Nation on a sound fiscal course,” says Biden.

Q: Is a $500 billion deficit sound? Could that even be achieved?
A: Consider the idea nonsensical with a recession on the horizon.

Free College

The president puts in another plug for free college “including tuition-free community college and expanded support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs)”

More Free Money

  •  “To help low and middle-income students overcome financial barriers to postsecondary education, the Budget proposes to double the maximum Pell Grant by 2029. This begins with a historic $2,175 increase for the 2023-2024 school year, compared to the 2021-2022 school year, thereby expanding access and reaching nearly 6.7 million students.”
  • “The Budget provides $20.2 billion for HHS’s early care and education programs, an increase of $3.3 billion over the 2021 enacted level. This includes $7.6 billion for the Child Care and Development.”
  • “To prevent and reduce homelessness, the Budget provides $3.6 billion, an increase of $580 million over the 2021 enacted level, for Homeless Assistance Grants.”
  • “The Budget provides $86 million in grants to support State and local fair housing enforcement organizations and bolster education, outreach, and training on rights and responsibilities under Federal fair housing laws.”

If you want the price of something to go up, throw money at it. That is the overriding lesson of three rounds of fiscal stimulus. 

Dear Mr. President Let’s Discuss Free Money 

Free Money Impact on the CPI

CPI Data from BLS, chart by Mish

Dear Mr. President Please Note

1: Please note that LA Spends Up to $837K Per Unit to House a Mere 5,600 of Over 40,000 Homeless. In another 4.3 years, LA will have a total of 5,600 units built for $1.2 billion while needing perhaps 60,000 units. Then what?

2: Please note the Biggest Source of Inflation Was Free Money, lots of charts including car prices.

Dear Mr. President, Why are you doing Everything Possible to Drive Up the Price of Oil, With Some of It Illegal?

This post originated at MishTalk.Com.

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32 Comments
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Oldest Most Voted
thimk
thimk
4 years ago
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
4 years ago
3yr and 30yr still inverted.
The closely watched 2yr and 10yr getting ever closer to inversion. A couple of days ago spread 20 bps. Yesterday 12 bps. Now 7 bps
whirlaway
whirlaway
4 years ago
The whole analysis above is meaningless because none of that is intended to happen anyway. You just have to note that the proposals are from Mr. “Nothing Will Fundamentally Change” and leave it at that.
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
4 years ago
Free College
Mission Accomplished.
Federal student loans in deferment until May 1st … when do we get announcement from POTUS that it will be extended? (Again).
Stu59
Stu59
4 years ago
I must thank you Mish, for saving me from wasting a chunk of my morning, I would never have gotten back. Once I read: “The first 50 pages are among the biggest hype over minimal progress in history” I never even looked at them! For some of the rest, before I felt like I was in a time warp from a year ago, I would like to add the following thoughts.
– If Biden wants to reduce the deficit in half, will that be before he gets done tripling it, or will he wait until after he doubles it?
– Free money, free college, more free climate and new deal money, what part of Broke does Biden not understand?
– How come Social Security and Medicaid will both be broke in 10-20 years, but we have all this free money to give away?
– Why increase the Military budget, when they just gave away nearly 100 Billion worth of material they already had?
– Why increase the education budget, when they send it to Democrats to buy them off, so this what we spend our tax money on now?
– Give me 3.6 Billion to reduce homelessness and it will be gone by next year, seriously they want more money for that?
I would love to add more, but I got so damn bored, and frustrated with it, that I couldn’t plow forward going over the same silly BS all over again. This President and his entire administration are really insane, by Einstein’s definition, with this sort of proposal. While I don’t prefer to wish my life away, 2022 & 2024 cannot possibly come quickly enough.
God Speed!!!
BDR45
BDR45
4 years ago
I could tolerate this horrendous piece of legislation if President Biden and the people who are directing him keep us from instigating WW3.
Unfortunately, there seems to be momentum for war. Hopefully sane people in the military will speak against it.
KidHorn
KidHorn
4 years ago
Reply to  BDR45
The US will keep attacking Russia regardless if the war ends. Our only hope is if Europe gets fed up with our warmongering and kicks us out. Germany would have to do it. Whatever Germany does, the rest of mainland Europe will follow. We’ll have no base of operations in Eurasia.
KidHorn
KidHorn
4 years ago
Biden needs to be replaced. The 25th amendment needs to be invoked. This isn’t I hate Trump so invoke the 25th amendment. This is he isn’t mentally fit to make decisions. As bad as Kamala will be, she’s not suffering from dementia.
Stu59
Stu59
4 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
I say let him stay as long as he would like to! He has done wonders for the Republican Party!!! He made our job that much easier, because now we can focus on getting rid of the RINO’s!! Let’s Go Brandon!!!
KidHorn
KidHorn
4 years ago
Reply to  Stu59
The dems will be in the white house through 2024 no matter what. And the pubs will almost certainly regain the house and senate in January. Assuming the elections are done legally. I fear the damage a clearly senile old man can cause.
RonJ
RonJ
4 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
The government is corrupt. What is really going on behind closed doors, in secret?
All the public knows, are propaganda narratives. Fauci and Collins used burner phones to talk in secret. Apply that to anything else going on in the government.
Allegedly, Trump wanted some troops removed from Syria. He was allegedly told they were moved, when allegedly, they weren’t.
We just had some 900,000 official deaths from Covid-19, with Fauci and company still in charge, after obstructing proper medical care for them. Who is going to invoke the 25th Amendment, when they won’t remove Fauci and company from office?
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
4 years ago
Reply to  KidHorn
Agreed Kamala is not demented, but she is a sociopath.
Nasty Edwin
Nasty Edwin
4 years ago
Inflation will be the main topic now when free money is introduced. My guess is we have turned the corner on free spending and are heading the other direction, it’s just that the progressives don’t understand that yet. Look for a more conservative approach going forward…not that it will help the situation any. It might make it worse. No climbing out of this hole without consequences.
honestcreditguy
honestcreditguy
4 years ago
Amazing how Americans have to pay other folks college, daycare and then pay illegal alien insurance, free loading asylum leftists and refugees on call courtesy of liberal social and direct marketing association of nuts….
my grandfathers would turn over in their grave at the politicians of today…
vanderlyn
vanderlyn
4 years ago
not a snowball’s chance of hell of being enacted.
Mr. Purple
Mr. Purple
4 years ago
Reply to  vanderlyn
Yes, there’s Biden’s budget and there’s Manchin’s budget.
Manchin is the decision maker until January at least.
Mr. Purple
Mr. Purple
4 years ago
“A trillion here, a trillion there … pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” — Everett Dirksen, 2022 version
Bam_Man
Bam_Man
4 years ago
A delusional pyromaniac that has been given a nearly $6 TRILLION box of matches to play with.
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
4 years ago
The incompetence (and corruption) of politicians will continue until there are guillotines on The Mall.
Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
4 years ago
Well, it’s good to know that government spending continues to keep up with inflation. 🙂
A billion here, a billion there. Have you ever noticed how a lot of $20 to $50 impulse items can sure add up?
Casual_Observer2020
Casual_Observer2020
4 years ago
Reply to  Felix_Mish
Those items are only $20 and $50 now. Before they were $5 and $10. Aside from the great recession, prices have never gone and stayed down for very long. We would need a 2008-2009 style collapse to get inflation under control where unemployment is so high that demand destruction destroys inflation and the economy.
TLinFL
TLinFL
4 years ago
If you’re old enough, they used to be five and dime…
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
4 years ago
This is part of the plan for a cashless society.
Eventually there won’t be anything you can buy with a $100 bill.
Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
4 years ago
Reply to  Lisa_Hooker
Extrapolating from the last century, that’s true whether cashless or cashy.
Of course, extrapolation works great until it doesn’t.
BowserB46
BowserB46
4 years ago
It’s getting harder and harder to not wish a nuclear attack on Washington D.C. The collateral damage would be worth the improvement.
strataland
strataland
4 years ago
Does the proposed “billionaire” taxation of unrealized gain on assets also provide for a tax deduction upon unrealized losses? Might be okay for many when the bubble bursts! You know, like those late to the party.
TexasTim65
TexasTim65
4 years ago
Reply to  strataland
I wanna know what happens when you run out of those people.
If you have 100 million this year you’ll have 80 next and won’t be subject to the tax, thus 20 million less taxes in year 2. By year 5 or 6 even 200 million won’t be worth 100 million so they won’t pay tax either and on and on.
It’s a crazy proposal and will cause a mass selling of expensive items to pay tax (very few rich people have a Scrooge McDuck money bin to dole out cash for taxes so they’d almost surely have to sell assets to cover 10, 20, 50, 100 million plus in wealth tax every year) thus driving their prices down. Imagine how many accountants and stuff it will take to audit all these people and so on. What a boondoggle.
Jack
Jack
4 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
Surprising about 20% tax – like you say it is not sustainable if it is wealth tax.
A wealth tax should be below inflation range (say 5%) if you want it to be sustainable.
Have not done the math but if he keeps the tax increases as hoped, but eliminates increased spending, would the country have no deficit next year?
Would be amazing if he could do that.
What a waste to eliminate the deficit but blow it away.
Call_Me
Call_Me
4 years ago
Reply to  TexasTim65
What happens will be what happened a century ago, when personal income tax was expanded from the high-earners to the masses. Propose a tax that doesn’t affect most people and it can be palatable to the general public, then expand it over time to catch most or all in the net.
Call_Me_Al
shamrock
shamrock
4 years ago
With Pell grant at $6500 already isn’t community college already free?
shamrock
shamrock
4 years ago
wunderkind
StukiMoi
StukiMoi
4 years ago
“$813 billion for military spending”
“$1.7 billion for efforts to combat gun trafficking”
That’s totalitarian government for you: Guns for Me, not for you. Since, as the dupes are told to mindlessly regurgitate: “guns are baaaad” Except for, you know, like, more guns for me!
“20 percent minimum tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires.”
Without mentioning (heck being Biden, without even understanding) that: Just like the prices of the things the donor classes own and sell going up, somehow magically just isn’t “inflation” the way it is when other prices go up; neither is the wealth of those donor class members going up “income,” the way it is for other people….. Since, you know, that depends on what the meaning of is, is. And other such exercises in completely unconstrained arbitrariness.
Getting self identifying, dumb, progressives to cheer for you, never was any diffimecultier than stealing candy from children, now was it?

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