This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, February 16th, 2011.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Against the backdrop of European debt crises, a failed stimulus effort, a sluggish economy, and a

failed stimulus effort, a sluggish economy and a fiscal commission recommending deep cuts.

President Obama's budget leaves much to be desired by the fiscal

conservative.

Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, offers his thoughts.

President Obama's new budget is basically a do-nothing budget.

The thing that's remarkable is, despite a 1.6 trillion dollar record high deficit,

huge public concern about exploding debt.

President Obama's own fiscal commission last fall saying that

we needed to dramatically cut the debt. Despite the debt crises in Europe, all of this,

President's budget this year, looks virtually exactly the

same as his big spending budget last year.

He has not moved to cut spending at all.

He has given a big middle finger to the Tea Partiers and the fiscal

conservatives and independent voters out there who wanted some restraint, he hasn't given them anything.

Republicans who are understandably disappointed, but I also get the feeling that this is in some sense a game of chicken.

That is, it doesn't seem like Republicans are very likely

given what President Obama has come out with to propose cuts in entitlements that

will be substantive budget cuts either.

Well one of the theories is that Obama produced a do-nothing budget simply because he

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