Skip to main content

Budget Cuts Just Another Show

I am not sure where to began with this post. It could be drinking hot chocolate instead of coffee has my thinking muddled in the anger that awash my body at the recent pandering in D.C. to the lowest least common denominator. I am disappointed that the president in an attempt to continue his quest for bipartisanship in D.C. has committed to several cuts that will do nothing for the deficit. I am angered that GOP members have put out a list of 74B in budget cuts when our deficit is 1.4T. The fact that these cuts are nothing more than retaliatory cuts at best is even more madding. The cuts proposed will do nothing to offset the budget. In fact these cuts will help add to the deficit.

====================================================================

In making the budget cuts, the party of "no" just looked to what President Obama asked for in 2011 and said no. (http://bit.ly/dTW8JM)
The List of 70 Spending Cuts to be Included in the CR follows:

· Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies -$30M
· Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy -$899M
· Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability -$49M
· Nuclear Energy -$169M
· Fossil Energy Research -$31M
· Clean Coal Technology -$18M
· Strategic Petroleum Reserve -$15M
· Energy Information Administration -$34M
· Office of Science -$1.1B
· Power Marketing Administrations -$52M
· Department of Treasury -$268M
· Internal Revenue Service -$593M
· Treasury Forfeiture Fund -$338M
· GSA Federal Buildings Fund -$1.7B
· ONDCP -$69M
· International Trade Administration -$93M
· Economic Development Assistance -$16M
· Minority Business Development Agency -$2M
· National Institute of Standards and Technology -$186M
· NOAA -$336M
· National Drug Intelligence Center -$11M
· Law Enforcement Wireless Communications -$52M
· US Marshals Service -$10M
· FBI -$74M
· State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance -$256M
· Juvenile Justice -$2.3M
· COPS -$600M
· NASA -$379M
· NSF -$139M
· Legal Services Corporation -$75M
· EPA -$1.6B
· Food Safety and Inspection Services -$53M
· Farm Service Agency -$201M
· Agriculture Research -$246M
· Natural Resource Conservation Service -$46M
· Rural Development Programs -$237M
· WIC -$758M
· International Food Aid grants -$544M
· FDA -$220M
· Land and Water Conservation Fund -$348M
· National Archives and Record Service -$20M
· DOE Loan Guarantee Authority -$1.4B
· EPA ENERGY STAR -$7.4M
· EPA GHG Reporting Registry -$9M
· USGS -$27M
· EPA Cap and Trade Technical Assistance -$5M
· EPA State and Local Air Quality Management -$25M
· Fish and Wildlife Service -$72M
· Smithsonian -$7.3M
· National Park Service -$51M
· Clean Water State Revolving Fund -$700M
· Drinking Water State Revolving Fund -$250M
· EPA Brownfields -$48M
· Forest Service -$38M
· National Endowment for the Arts -$6M
· National Endowment for the Humanities -$6M
· Job Training Programs -$2B
· Community Health Centers -$1.3B
· Maternal and Child Health Block Grants -$210M
· Family Planning -$327M
· Poison Control Centers -$27M
· CDC -$755M
· NIH -$1B
· Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services -$96M
· LIHEAP Contingency fund -$400M
· Community Services Block Grant -$405M
· High Speed Rail -$1B
· FAA Next Gen -$234M
· Amtrak -$224M
· HUD Community Development Fund -$530M

(All reductions are compared to the President’s fiscal year 2011 request)


==============================================================

Take a quick look at my world of macro economics. Government spends money in low income sectors > low income sectors patronized businesses that supply basic needs > owners of those businesses (i.e. Walmart) make money > owners can hire people to take care of customers (or to hide their name badges when you need help in the store) > Government receives income from owners and workers of businesses. I am sure I have over simplified the model but it is not rocket science. I learned this stuff in 3rd grade.

The science comes in getting millions of Americans to believe that those cuts offered will make a difference. The science is getting millions of Americans to believe those cuts will help them. If our government was serious about deficit reduction then the 2001 Tax Cuts of the Bush era would have been allowed to expire. As we have seen in the 10 years of the Tax Cut experiment, tax cuts do not create jobs or balance the budget. Allowing the income tax to rise a modest 3% would halve our deficit in less than 20 years. The proposed budget cuts will not reduce our deficit by 10% in 20 years. A lesson in math is required in the GOP controlled House.

Since the GOP has had the House, they have not produced one bit of legislation that was not aimed at attacking the president. They have not produced one bit of legislation, backed by sound numbers, that will actually help Americans. Every ounce of legislation produced by the GOP has been political and not practical. These people are still treating our country as a football game where winning seats is everything. We must do something now to stop the economic decline of our country. This country is where our children's children' children will live. Our doing nothing but eating popcorn while watching this C grade (carnival) show puts their pursuit of happiness in danger. It is time to close the curtain on this show.

A few reads about the proposed budget cuts.


http://fxn.ws/iirTtp
http://econ.st/e3hlf1
http://bit.ly/gjOQ4X

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Take me over the cliff - again

I expect many Americans in my fiscal position are fed up with the GOPs continued fight for the rights of the wealthy to pay less in taxes.  I say take me over the cliff.  I recently found a Twitter account regarding the $250K threshold.   Many of the tweets\RTs where describing the hardships of $250K living.   It is time for a reality check across the board in America.    If the grown-ups were honest about this fiscal mess, they would admit the tax cuts must end for all.  The ending should be in stages to reduce the likelihood of the need for public assistance for working\working-poor families.  Although $250K is different for different parts of the U.S.A it does mean you are not in the ghetto. There is no $250K/individual ghetto in America. If you are reading this posting and you know of such a ghetto, please let me know for I need to move to that state.  If taxes go up for individuals making $250K and above they will not face a n...

Y'all should eat my grits no cheese

It is two days after the GOP primary in Mississippi. We are still laughing at Mitt's attempt to cuddle up to us with cheesy grits and a few y'alls thrown in. In my area of Mississippi it is yaw'all(10 second word). Had he come here expecting us to be able to count to 20 without removing our shoes, he may have been taken a little bit more seriously. I am not sure if Mitt's grits ranks with Bush's "this part of the world" statement after Katrina but it ranks. Truthfully, I enjoy cheese in my grits along with garlic and red pepper. However, I do not think my love of grits, a bowl every morning, makes me Southern. Although I was born in Southern California and partially reared in Southern Wisconsin, I consider myself a full blown Mississippian. Along with keeping my grits to myself, I also speak without care of accent. The fact that I can tell you how to get from Memphis to the Coast without using the interstate or Google says I am from Mississippi. ...

We can not afford tax cuts

After the Senate failed twice to make any headway on tax cuts and UI benefits, I took a little timeout from shouting to be silent. I spent 2 hours and 20 minutes being quiet with my son as we watched Harry Potter. Today, I awaken early to get to the store to buy food to aid in my son’s combat of the season’s first cold. During the shopping and the quiet time, I continued to wonder if maybe I am the one missing something. I do not have the alphabet soup behind my name or statistical knowledge, as do those in the Senate. I may be alone in seeing a crisis where there is none. However, just as I thought to put away the shingle of my blog in favor of teaching public school, I got a retweet of a NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/politics/05states.html?_r=1&src=twt&twt=nytimespolitics). Reading the article I was reminded how, my close to retirement age mother, who has advanced degrees, was laid-off as a teacher under the guise of budget cuts from the state....