Obama Budget: Theater but a step in the right direction

Although it's only possible to be happy about the Obama budget by comparison to the outrageously destructive policies of the other party, and one has to acknowledge that it is primarily a political document, part and parcel of ongoing political theater, intended to portray the Righticans in an unfavorable light with zero expectation that it will ever actually be reflected in policy, I still have to acknowledge that it represents a notable improvement in the policy positions of the Obama administration, and will likely help him consolidate his Progressive Democratic base.

For a discussion of some of the details, I recommend Ian Masters's interview with Thomas Ferguson on ianmasters.com ;  mp3 file; link here. Ferguson is on the board of the Institute For New Economic Thinking and a contributing editor to The Nation. Masters and he discuss "what is not an austerity budget, but one that calls for more taxes on the rich and therefore has no hope of Republican support, but yet might persuade American voters that it is the path back to economic health."