By Rick Newman , On Tuesday February 2, 2010, 2:38 pm EST

If you’re hoping that tax hikes on the rich will solve America’s debt crisis, you’re overestimating the power of the wealthy.

President Obama’s budget proposal would raise taxes on upper-income earners by $969 billion over the next 10 years, yet the federal debt would continue to explode. To boost government revenues further, he’d raise an additional $122 billion from multinational firms, $90 billion from banks, $37 billion from oil companies, and $24 billion from hedge funds and private-equity firms. All told, that’s nearly $1.2 trillion. And it would barely make a dent. We’d still have huge deficits, and the national debt would keep growing.