Republicans in the House of Representatives, Democrats in the Senate, and President Obama struck a deal last week to keep the government running with what sounded like $38 billion in budget cuts. At least that was the amount initially reported. But upon further examination, that number shrank considerably to just $352 million. It’s no wonder that Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of the United States to negative. While politicians on both sides were bickering over whether to fund NPR and Planned Parenthood, the government is spending roughly $158 billion a month on Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, Welfare Programs, and the interest on the national debt. Nowhere in the discussions between president and Republicans was there even a mention of these programs, yet they consume nearly 95 percent of current tax revenues.

There are now so many tax breaks, deductions, credits, and loopholes that 45 percent of U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2010. Coincidently, 43 percent of Americans believe that the amount of taxes they pay are “fair.” Hmmm.

It seems that the iPad is actually costing jobs according to Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. – and he thinks something should be done about it. In a scene reminiscent of Atlas Shrugged, he believes we should have “protection for jobs here in America to ensure that the American people are being put to work.” He continued, “What becomes of publishing companies and publishing company jobs? What becomes of bookstores and librarians and all of the jobs associated with paper? Well, in the not-too-distant future, such jobs simply won’t exist.” Completely ignorant of economics and the wealth that Apple has created in the U.S. and the other jobs that have been created through accessories and applications developed for the iPad, Jackson would have you believe that Steve Jobs is actually killing jobs in America. If only we had more congressmen like Jackson, we might still have horse-drawn buggies and rotary telephones.

Donald Trump continues to surge in the polls of potential Republican presidential candidates. And why not? The rest of the group leaves most republicans wanting. There’s Romney, who couldn’t look more the part but has that little health care plan he instituted while governor of Massachusetts that continues to cost more than was planned and is eerily similar to the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Sara Palin has a home with the Tea Party but is unlikely to win the votes of any moderates, few independents, and zero Democrats. Pawlenty, Perry, and Barbour have great cred as governors but little charisma. Newt is a smart guy, but continues to say some of the dumbest things. It would seem that people like the straight-talking Donald, but his remarks on universal health care may send his poll numbers south.

President Obama’s tax returns were made public this week. With an income well over what he defines as rich, the president and his wife earned $1.7 million in 2010 but were able to manage paying only 26% in income taxes. That $1.7 million puts the Obamas in the top 35% rate, but it looks like he took advantage of some of those loopholes he wants to get rid of. And it looks as though the first family has also found reason to increase their charitable giving – up to 17 percent for 2010. In 2009, the Obama’s earned $5.5 million, but only donated $543,000 or roughly 6%. That was still an increase from before Barack Obama had presidential aspirations. Until 2006, charitable donations were less than 1.5 percent of the Obama’s income. Better late than never, I guess. Now if he could get his VP on the program. In 2010, the Biden’s adjusted gross income was over $333,000, yet gave only $4,820 to charity, about 1.5 percent.

Gasoline prices continue to rise reaching an average of $3.83 a gallon for regular according to the Automobile Association of America. A year ago it was about a dollar less per gallon and on January 20th, 2009, it was a buck eighty. Most analysts don’t expect gas prices to drop anytime soon because the price is being mostly driven by speculation. What you don’t hear much about is the effect of inflation on the price of most commodities since the government now excludes food and energy prices from their reports. Not that energy prices contribute to the price of anything else we buy. So what’s the president doing about it? Apparently nothing. President Obama told a crowd recently that there was nothing he could do to help lower prices and that anyone who drives a gas guzzler should trade in their car on a new hybrid. Could he possibly be any more out of touch with mainstream America?

Donny Deutsch and the other wealthy talking heads on cable these days are really keen on the idea of having their taxes raised. Do we really need to get the government involved for this to happen? As far as I can tell, there’s nothing stopping Donny and friends from writing a check and sending it to the Treasury. But according to the IRS, it won’t make a dent in the deficit. In 2008, the total taxable income for everyone in America making more than $100,000 was $1.5 trillion. The projected budget deficit for 2012 will be $1.65 trillion. I guess it would be too much to ask for someone sitting next to people like Deutsch to point out this little piece of reality.

I know that politics is a tough game. Politicians sometimes say things in order to get a response, to energize voters – I get it. Putting aside the substance of President Obama’s budget speech last week, he displayed a lack of class and character rarely seen from a sitting U.S. president. With Representative Paul Ryan as a presidential guest, Obama characterized the GOP Budget plan, written mostly by Ryan, as un-American saying that his plan was not “a vision of the America I know.” The president went on to accuse Republicans and Ryan of wanting to let “roads crumble…bridges collapse…50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance…” Obama even invoked the idea that the Ryan plan would do away with care for kids with autism and Down’s syndrome. Nothing about this rhetoric is surprising or new, but inviting the author of the budget plan you are deriding to be a guest at a presidential speech is like being called by the principal to sit in the first row of the school auditorium while he tells your classmates how bad your report is.

And finally, it looks like the president has lost John Stewart. After President Obama gave his budget rebuttal speech last week, Stewart had this to say after hearing Obama’s “spending reductions in the tax code” remark.

What? “Spending reductions in the tax code”? The tax code isn’t where we spend, it’s where we collect, and that…. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I guess what you said is tax “code”, code for raising taxes. You managed to talk about a tax hike as a spending reduction. Can we afford that and the royalty checks you’re going to have to send to George Orwell? That’s the weirdest way of… just say “tax hike”! That’s like saying, “I’m not going on a diet, I’m going to add calories to my excluded food intake!”

I guess if Obama’s lost Stewart, he’s lost Middle America.

Jonathan Clark (www.graytruth.com) is a conservative / libertarian. He brings his business world experience and perspective to his political writings.