The CNN article notes that the Senate has finally passed the No Budget No Pay act... And that President Obama is late with his budget for the 4th time in 5 years...
And FOX News article notes that it will be hard for the Democrats to raise taxes and spending higher unless the economy gets moving.
The third link explains how the poor GDP news in January may be a good thing. Less government and more private!!!
Thoughts?
CNN President Misses Budget Deadline
FOX News Shrinking Economy
CNN GDP: Economic Contraction
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8 comments:
I will be looking forward to an explanation how the failure to submit a budget on time the House has no intention of passing anyway will seriously impact policy. With approval of Congress ratings in the single digits, it might be a good idea for the Congress to focus on it's job, rather than crafting political barbs against the president. Maybe working weekends would help.
--Hiram
Submitting budgets that do not eliminate the yearly deficit is not really submitting a viable plan in my opinion. We need to get to surpluses if we intend to pay down some of this enormous debt we have racked up...
Examiner Most of Obama's Plan Enacted
Ironic isn't it that the President wants more time to work on the country's financial issues when he seems to be spending his time screwing around with everything else but the biggest most urgent problem we face...
CNN Obama Wants More Time
FOX News Dips to $854 Billion Temporarily
I mean he has spent most of January talking about gun control and immigration reform... And Congress already delayed the sequester by 2 months... And he wants to push it out further.
And why would we push this out in the first place. "Federal spending cuts under sequestration total more than $1 trillion over 10 years, half of which would come from the Pentagon." I mean compared to our $TRILLION yearly deficit, this equals a reduction of only ~$100 billion per year.
I would call it a good start in stopping the leak...
"Ironic isn't it that the President wants more time to work on the country's financial issues when he seems to be spending his time screwing around with everything else but the biggest most urgent problem we face."
I think it's important to understand that the budget stuff is handled on the staffing level. The president doesn't sit in on those meetings so his time is free.
The fact is Congress can't even get around to reaching a decision on presidential nominations. That they complain that the president is a few days late on something as immensely complicated as the budget is more evidence of the silliness of the people we send to Congress.
--Hiram
Obama has had 4 years to turn around the $1.3T/yr deficits that HE created and hasn't done so. Every other modern President has managed to do so in 24 months or less. It is no longer a case of whether he can't or won't. It's a case of it has to be forced upon him. Maybe this is a start, but I doubt it. Since most Democrat Senators are millionaires they don't need the money. Now, no money no JOB, that would be something that would get their attention.
J. Ewing
There are 2 ways to create a budget. Top Down and Bottom Up.
It seems Hiram supports the Bottom Up aproach, where every department asks for what they need and then a computer adds it all up and spits out a number that is usually too high. Because everyone pads their numbers some with expectation that they will be asked to cut them. Or because they have pet projects that they KNOW need to be done, even if they aren't aligned to a higher level priority.
The other choice would be that Obama would allocate the money to the departments based on the top level priorities. And then the departments would need to live within their means or push back.
He has 4+ years to do either and he still seems unprepared.
The other choice would be that Obama would allocate the money to the departments based on the top level priorities. And then the departments would need to live within their means or push back.
How do you know what the priorities are, and what they cost, unless you consult with the department? Republicans like across the board cuts not because they like to prioritize but because they don't. Across the board cuts are a tactic used by people who are trying to make tough financial choices. That's why we talk about entitlement cuts. Because we want to avoid the tough choice to cut Social Security and health care, we want to shift that choice to others and then blame them when people are unhappy about the choices made.
--Hiram
How would you set a budget? Ask all the depts what they need to "get the job done", and then raise taxes to match?
Since there are only 10 discretionary categories, I would think prioritizing should not be that hard. (ie per pie chart) And if he wants more discretionary funding, someone had better start changing the entitlement laws.
UTMB Pie Chart
USA Spending National Budget Details
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