Here's Obama's Secret Plan To Drastically Reduce The Deficit And Save The Economy

Here's Obama's Secret Plan To Drastically Reduce The Deficit And Save The Economy from Clusterstock by The Mad Hedge Fund Trader
(This guest post comes courtesy of the Mad Hedge Fund Trader)

Obama's Secret Plan for Economic Revival. Obama's strategy to extricate the US from its dire economic straights has been leaking out from Washington over the past few weeks. How does he wean the country off of massive stimulus programs, zero interest rates, and ballooning deficits?

The former community activist from Chicago intends to let the economy do the heavy lifting, bringing the budget deficit down from a suicidal 10.6% of GDP to 3% of GDP, which can then be sustained indefinitely with a 3% real economic growth rate. Some 60% of this incredible shrinkage will be achieved through tax hikes, and 40% via spending cuts, which together will generate the needed $938 billion in savings. Here is the breakdown:

$331 billion-"bank responsibility fees" designed to address "too big to fail"
$252 billion-expiring Bush tax cuts for couples earning over $250,000 a year
$250 billion-scaling back the wars in Iran and Afghanistan
$105 billion-already announced spending freezes

I have a few problems with this scenario. What if the economy doesn't grow at 3%? My own long term growth forecast is 2.5%. That creates a shortfall of $710 billion right there. What if interest rates go up? Double short term rates and the government's debt service leaps from $385 billion to $770 billion. That's a hole and a half. Are republicans going to cooperate on any of this? Only when Hell freezes over. If the Obama plan falls short of expectations, where will he go to raid the additional funds?

Put a national VAT tax, savings squeezed out of health care though a reduction of services, and cut backs in entitlements at the top of the list. If you think the noise coming out of Washington is unbearable now, you ain't seen nothin' yet. To me it all adds up to a collapse of the 30 year Treasury bond market (TBT). Funny, it seems that no matter where I focus my research, all roads lead to the TBT. Use this dip to re-establish longs, and set yourself up for your fourth round trip this year.

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