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On saving $35 million
Jan. 5th, 2011 08:18 amProgressives are dismissing Boehner's plan to cut $35million from the House budget. That represents 0.001% of the federal deficit, so the commentary seems to be that this amount is insignificant. Well, maybe on its own it is, when compared with the deficit. But cut that amount in other places, over and over again, and it starts to add up. The "this is insignificant" line is synonymous with the line I hear from so many (non) voters: "My vote doesn't count". Not on its own it doesn't, but combined with others it has a major impact.
What the commentary should be, is this - cutting budgets is always a good idea when you have a deficit, but fixing the rampant corruption of our government is the bigger issue. Banning donations by lobbyists, reforming election funding, limiting (and by constitutional amendment) banning the definition of companies as individuals, removing the influence of corporations from Congress - these are the problems that continue to drag our collective government down. And neither side is immune; in some respects, the Democrats and Republicans are very similar. Obama's administration is firmly stacked with 'old guard' politicians and ex-lobbyist advisers, who reflect only the values of Wall Street, so certainly, the Administration is not much better than Congress.
Personally, I encourage the GOP's efforts - if they continue to cut in a balanced way that protects our values. That would mean honoring commitments to programs like Social Security and Medicare, which for the moment, they've said they will do.
Whichever party is in control, some really tough and unpleasant decisions need to be made, and they will be vote losers; I wonder if either party has the balls to make them. Looking overseas, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain have all been forced into austerity measure by a virtual collapse of their economies. Just as an individual cannot afford to spend more than they earn, neither can a government continually run on deficit spending. What we need is a commitment to bringing our budget back into balance in the next four years, then a program to drastically reduce our national debt.
The problem is - there's a Presidential election year coming up; and there are none but a handful of our elected representatives who are willing to stand up and tell us the truth when faced with a decision about their own futures as politicians; fixing the budget will be a hard, long, and very painful process. I just hope our government will eventually face up to the task, and not wait for a complete humiliation when our overseas creditors force us to go to the IMF for help.
What the commentary should be, is this - cutting budgets is always a good idea when you have a deficit, but fixing the rampant corruption of our government is the bigger issue. Banning donations by lobbyists, reforming election funding, limiting (and by constitutional amendment) banning the definition of companies as individuals, removing the influence of corporations from Congress - these are the problems that continue to drag our collective government down. And neither side is immune; in some respects, the Democrats and Republicans are very similar. Obama's administration is firmly stacked with 'old guard' politicians and ex-lobbyist advisers, who reflect only the values of Wall Street, so certainly, the Administration is not much better than Congress.
Personally, I encourage the GOP's efforts - if they continue to cut in a balanced way that protects our values. That would mean honoring commitments to programs like Social Security and Medicare, which for the moment, they've said they will do.
Whichever party is in control, some really tough and unpleasant decisions need to be made, and they will be vote losers; I wonder if either party has the balls to make them. Looking overseas, Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain have all been forced into austerity measure by a virtual collapse of their economies. Just as an individual cannot afford to spend more than they earn, neither can a government continually run on deficit spending. What we need is a commitment to bringing our budget back into balance in the next four years, then a program to drastically reduce our national debt.
The problem is - there's a Presidential election year coming up; and there are none but a handful of our elected representatives who are willing to stand up and tell us the truth when faced with a decision about their own futures as politicians; fixing the budget will be a hard, long, and very painful process. I just hope our government will eventually face up to the task, and not wait for a complete humiliation when our overseas creditors force us to go to the IMF for help.
