President Obama unveils his vision for America today in the form of a 2013 federal budget. The President calls for $3.8 trillion in spending next year – including new investments in our roads and infrastructure, education, and manufacturing sector. Also included in the budget are a yearlong extension of emergency unemployment benefits, and of the payroll tax cut holiday for 160 million working Americans.

On the deficit-reduction side – the President’s budget cuts the deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years by raising taxes on corporations and the very wealthy – like letting the Bush tax cuts expire for top income earners. It also trims down federal entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid – and cuts the Defense Budget by 5% over the next decade. Of course – the President’s budget with its massive investments in infrastructure, education, and manufacturing by making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes will be just one vision laid out for the nation.

The Republicans will unveil their vision soon, which will likely call for even lower taxes for the super-rich – more investments in dirty oil rather than clean energy – and the destruction of Medicare as we know it. So which road should our nation take? The one that invests in creating a more competitive nation? Or the same one that, thanks to 30 years of Reagan, Bush, and Clintonomics, brought us to where we are today - becoming a rapidly “undeveloping” superpower?

-Thom

(Which way will America go? Tell us here.)

The Daily Stack

Article: "We Need a Second Party" by Thomas L. Friedman.

Article: "Paul backers, campaign cry foul over GOP caucus tally" by Jonathan Riskind.

Article: "Romney wins 2012 straw poll of conservative activists" by Steve Holland.

Article: "Rick Santorum: Mitt Romney rigged the CPAC straw poll".

Article: "Who Is Foster Friess? Seven Facts You Need To Know" by Adam Peck.

Article: "Greece sweeps its streets and braces for austerity " by Nick Squires.

Article: "The People vs. Goldman Sachs" by Matt Taibbi.

Article: "Corporate Taxes As Percentage Of Profits Now Lowest In Decades" by Alexander Eichler.

Article: "Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer." by David Leonhardt, April 13, 2010.

Article: "Report: 25 Percent Of Millionaires Pay Lower Taxes Than 10.4 Million Middle-Class Americans" by Tanya Somanader.

Article: "We Need a Second Party" by Thomas L. Friedman.

Article: "VIDEO: Reagan Called For An End To ‘Crazy’ Tax Loopholes That Let Millionaires Pay Less Than Bus Drivers" by Pat Garofalo.

Hour Two: Greece - Austerity doesn't work.....

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Hour One: the President's budget
- Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

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