Unemployment numbers are up; housing sales are down.  The market is up; durable goods sales are down. As downs goes, the American public is pretty low, as fear and anger fester and deepen.

President Barack Obama today offered the outline of his first budget, and called for some very hard decisions to be made.  It increases taxes on the wealthy, defined as individuals who earn more than $200,000 per year, and couples earning more than $250,000.  It curtails Medicare spending by decreasing payments to hospitals and insurance companies, and by cutting drug payments under Medicaid.

As is always to be expected, the outline (details to follow in mid-April) was assailed by Republicans as missing the target.  They complained especially about the tax increases, and television talking heads this morning questioned why those who are most productive in our economy (the ones making more than $200K or $250K as couples) are being punished for their productivity.

In simplified terms, the two sides of the issue are:  fund spending increases with tax increases on those who can most afford it; or, decrease taxes so folks have more money to spend, creating jobs that, in turn, increase tax revenues to cover those spending increases.

Every poll and study we read today, though, reports the same thing:  a lack of consumer confidence, a hunkering down of spending, and general fear about the future.  So, it seems no one is spending anyway, even those who can most afford it.  That’s not likely to change, especially as we read today about the increase in unemployment claims and the drop in housing sales.

Those with money today are as fearful as those without.  The personal spending cutbacks are cross-class, if you will.  Those from the bailed out financial institutions who picked our taxpayer pockets already don’t give a damn except for themselves, it would seem – - no one is giving the money back.

An earlier column on these pages bemoaned the lack of national heroes last seen in the early part of the 20th century – - the likes of J.P. Morgan and John Rockefeller, who used their wealth to shoulder up the American economy.  In another column, an apology was offered to newly born grandson Lincoln for sticking him with a nearly $5000 bill for the bailout that is now law.

Well, Mr. Obama’s outline released today suggests a $3.55 trillion budget plan for 2010, as well as  requests that could push current year spending to $3.94 trillion.  It would seem, then, we need to revise the measure of our apology to Lincoln by another thousand bucks.

These numbers translate into about $12,000 for every taxpayer in the country, or $6,000 for every man, woman and child living here.  He just turned one month old and he’s already looking at a pretty steep tab.  No social security number yet, no job yet, not even a pre-school certificate, and he’s already in deep debt.

Harrison Lives Dot Com endorsed Barack Obama in the November election, and he continues to have Harrison’s support.  He was not responsible for the conditions he inherited after being sworn in, but he is responsible now for the measures taken to right the economy’s ship of state.  He communicates his positions well and articulately, and he does seem fully invested intellectually in the problems we are all facing together.

Every “expert” has an opinion on the right courses of action, and yet every one of them will also qualify their opinions with the disclaimer that no one really knows because we’ve not seen times like this for more than 70 years.

Lincoln, I sure hope Mr. Obama has chosen wisely the men and women he listens to for advice.  Otherwise, I fear I will be amending my apology again, and again.