President Obama is proposing significant tax hikes in order to bring the budget into balance. In his speech this week, Obama once again childishly blamed President Bush for the budget mess we are facing, rather than own up to his own recklessly irresponsible spending. Obama repeated the Leftist meme that tax cuts caused the deficit.

This means we need yet another history lesson.

Barack Obama’s own web site (WhiteHouse.gov) reports that total federal revenue in 1981 was $599.27 billion. Total federal revenue in 1989 was $991 billion.

Barack Obama’s own web site (WhiteHouse.gov) reports that total federal revenue in 2001 was $1.99 trillion. Total federal revenue in 2008 was $2.52 trillion.

The problem we have is not that we lack revenue, though revenues have gone down since 2008 as a result of the terrible economic downturn brought about by the crash of the housing market. The problem we have is that the government has absolutely no discipline when it comes to spending the people’s money. More tax revenues will do nothing to solve the budget crisis if we do not bring government spending under control.

Meanwhile, President Obama has been spending us into bankruptcy. Total federal spending in 2008 was 2.98 trillion. Total federal spending in 2009 was $3.51 trillion. Total federal spending in 2010 was $3.45 trillion. Total federal spending in 2011 is estimated to be $3.81 trillion.

This is simply not sustainable, folks. We cannot continue to hemorrhage cash the way we have done these last three years. The future of this nation is at stake.

Furthermore, Obama’s petulant insistence on blaming President Bush ignores the fact that the Democratic Party won control of both houses of Congress in the 2006 election.

The federal budget deficit in 2005 was $318 billion. The federal budget deficit in 2006 was $248 billion. The federal budget deficit in 2007 – the last budget written and passed by Republicans – was $160 billion. The deficit exploded after the Democrats took office.

One week ago, I attended the Tea Party rally at the Showers Building in downtown Bloomington. The message to Barack Obama today remains the same as it was when the Tea Party movement launched two years ago: The United States of America cannot survive if we continue your reckless spending policies. Stop it now.