Obama unleashed his new budget proposal last week. The aim was to try and calm the markets and the masses about the deep depths of our current ecomonic crisis. I used to laugh and even disagree with many when they would compare Mr. Obama to Jimmy Carter during the campaign. I believed that Jimmy Carter’s politics and policies were outdated and proven unsuccesful by history. Now, I feel as though not only is President Obama trying to bring back the policies of Mr. Carter, he is taking them a step further. He essentially spent last week blaming the wealthy for all of the economic struggles today. Now, it is true that irresponsible behavior is what landed us in our current state, but penalizing those who are successful today in order to promote socialist policies is not going to pull us out of this deep recession.

The not for profit world relies so heavily on wealthy Americans to donate and just like many other organizations, they are hurting today. Disposable and discretionary income is significantly less than what it was even six months ago. Now, under the new Obama budget plan, deductions for charitable donations will not be fully deductible. Additionally, his budget plan calls for the same reduced deductions for mortgage interest. The wealthiest Americans are the ones buying homes and the ones giving the most charity. As I have said before, raising taxes on anybody is irresponsible during a time when everyone is hurting.