All the News That's Fit to be Tied

I have an axe to grind, but unlike the New York Times, I freely admit it.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Spinning your Wheels

It seems like no matter how much you warn someone they are about to open a big can of worms they often do it anyway. For example in January we warned House Budget Chief Paul Ryan that entitlement reform was a trap for Republicans being set up by the Democrats. It is not a question of whether or not we need it, we do. But it is a question of recognizing a briar patch before you enter it. Brier Rabbit did not look before he leaped and you remember what happened to him. (The Song of the South) On the rare occasions when Republicans achieve a majority in the House or Senate we always hope that they have learned from the past. But apparently that is too much to hope for even in this day and age of lighting fast communication and information dissemination. In addition to the Entitlement Trap (Jan 26, 2011) the Republicans have also fallen into the second trap the Democratic minority has set for them; Budgeting for future years that are not under their control. It is the "Dirty Little Secret about Budgets."(Feb 16, 2011) Republicans have a great opportunity to cut spending in the 2012 budget by getting the work done in the 12 appropriation bills that make up the federal budget and eliminating the need for a "Continuing Resolution (CR)." Surgical budget cutting is more easily achieved in committee with the goal of reducing spending one budget cycle at a time. The Republicans need to spend less time spinning their wheels and more time in budget surgery.

Friday, April 15, 2011

The math is simple, the dishonesty is obvious

Since President Obama doesn't think that Paul Ryan is serious about reducing the deficit, as indicated by his off-the-record comments overheard on a hot mike at a fundraiser I thought I would take the opportunity to expose the President's own lack of sincerity about reducing the deficit. You may recall in his Wednesday speech he said he wanted to reduce the national debt by $4 trillion over 12 years. In the same speech he called for the repeal of the Bush tax cut for those making over $250,000 a year, which would result in an additional $1 trillion in tax revenue. This policy, if followed, would lead to an additional $8 trillion in spending over the 12-year period. The $12 trillion in additional tax revenue minus $4 trillion of reduced spending would equal $8 trillion in increased spending which would raise the national debt to $22 trillion over the 12-year period. The math is simple, the dishonesty is obvious.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Obama 2.0

On Wednesday President Obama will try to convince America he is serious about cutting spending, when he is only really serious about increasing taxes. He will promise multi-trillion dollar cuts in the next 10 years, but increased spending and taxes in the 2012 budget. And therein lays the dirty little secret. No President or Congress can compel future Presidents or Congresses to spend or not spend money. In America budgets are done one year at a time. By putting cuts off in future years that can be ignored by new Presidents and Congresses the Federal government enables runaway spending in the current budget year with the empty promise of cuts in the future. The American people have been taken in by this little parlor trick for 50 years. Hopefully it will end with this President and a new revived Congress than can bring common sense back to government budgeting and spending.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

On the Budget

Obama has added 1.5 Trillion in the last two budgets, allegedly to help create jobs and overcome the economic slowdown with government spending. While it has helped government it has done little to encourage job growth in private industry. It seems logical to say this is $1.5 Trillion that could easily be saved in each upcoming yearly budget by simply not spending it. I'm sure that's probably too simple.