Opinion

SPENDAPALOOZA

Don’t be fooled: President Obama did not propose a federal budget yesterday.

What he offered was a $3.6 trillion spendapalooza meant to usher in a new era in the nation’s political and economic life.

No American – of any income level, business background, race or gender – would be left unaffected.

Economic freedom and individual liberty would take on a whole new meaning.

Make no mistake: If Obama’s vision is embraced by his fellow Democrats, who control Congress, the role of government in everyday America would balloon.

And that’s not the half of it:

* Federal outlays could well account for a larger share of the economy than at any time since World War II – not including any further big bailouts down the road.

* To pay for it all, taxpayers would be asked to cough up hundreds of billions more in coming years. There’d also be new corporate taxes, a carbon tax on company emissions and other hits.

And all that would still leave trillions in debt for future generations to repay. This year’s deficit alone, now $1.75 trillion, is already 12.3 percent of GDP – the largest since 1945. And it may grow more before the year’s up.

Obama says his decade-long tax-and-spend plan attempts to rein in those deficits. But in the end, he’d still be adding to the national debt by a half-trillion dollars a year.

* Even America’s standing worldwide could be shaken – as nations begin to view Washington as an insatiable borrower and question whether they have the wherewithal, or even the inclination, to keep on buying up US debt simply to fund profligacy.

* Meanwhile, dependence on government, particularly for services like health care, would grow astronomically – at the risk of poorer quality or even outright rationing. Uncle Sam would also take an unprecedented part in school funding and US energy production and regulation.

And all this is going on even as DC bureaucrats take direct stakes in private corporations.

Now, it’s true: Voters wanted change. Maybe even re-energized government.

But it’s hard to believe many folks expected such a massive, fundamental shift in basic US institutions. (The Dow, it’s worth noting, fell 1.2 percent yesterday.)

Yes, this is change.

But it’s hard to see any ground for hope that it will lead to a better future for America.