There has finally been a lot of talk in Washington DC about the massive deficits Congress is running up, which is leading to enormous annual gains in the overall debt of the nation. OK, so they’re “talking” about; however, that reminds me of an old joke: I know you’re lying because your lips are moving.
A few days ago a so-called gargantuan slash in the budget was agreed to, but nothing could be further from the truth. The left and the right argued over this for about a week, which means the government spent more money during this short period than on the agreement to the so-called cuts.
With an estimated $3.83 trillion budget for 2011, the US government is spending $10.49 billion…EVERY DAY. Therefore, while the clowns on the left and the right agreed to $38.5 billion in phantom cuts, the government spent $73.43 billion “real” dollars. Umm, how is that exciting again?
I mentioned “so-called” and “phantom” cuts to the budget above because that’s really what it is. The agreed upon cuts are, according to AP, “financed with a lot of one-time savings and cuts that officially ‘score’ as savings to pay for spending elsewhere, but that often have little to no actual impact on the deficit...cuts to earmarks, unspent census money, leftover federal construction funding, and $2.5 billion from the most recent renewal of highway programs that can't be spent because of restrictions set by other legislation. Another $3.5 billion comes from unused spending authority from a program providing health care to children of lower-income families.”
Still excited about the so-called budget deal?
But wait, there’s more! According to the Washington Post, the cuts will really be a pedestrian $352 million. A new budget estimate released Wednesday says that the spending bill negotiated between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner would produce less than 1 percent of the $38 billion in claimed savings by the end of this budget year.
The Congressional Budget Office estimate shows that the spending bill due for a House vote Thursday would pare just $352 million from the deficit through Sept. 30. About $8 billion in cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid are offset by nearly equal increases in defense spending.
The full story can be read here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/cbo-budget-deal-cuts-this-fiscal-years-deficit-by-just-353-million-not-38-billion-touted/2011/04/13/AFFJnkWD_story.html
With what was essentially a political stump-speech, president Obama (sort of) laid out his plan for “cutting the deficit.” Although he promised to soak the rich with new taxes and continue spending (read: “investing”) on the same worn out programs, he said he will cut the deficit by $4 trillion over 12-years.
Golly gee Wally, that sounds swell! Really, let’s think it about that for a second. According to the CBO, “current law” deficit projections would average roughly $700 billion over the next ten years. Of course “current law” doesn’t take into consideration the snakes in the grass that infest Congress and its penchant for spending. Moreover, it doesn’t consider future recessions, a future banking crisis, massive Katrina-like disaster spending, war spending, no job growth, fake GDP growth, etc.
Because of this disingenuous projection over an impossibly long period of time, I do not believe this projection to be high enough. Let’s bump it up to just $1 trillion deficits per year on average (this year should be a whopping $1.7 trillion). Given this, the US would spend $12 trillion more money that it doesn’t have over president Obama’s deficit-reduction period. With the president’s anticipated savings, the US would still dig an additional $8 trillion hole.
Does the big $4 trillion number still sound good now? No, it’s a joke and so is Representative Ryan’s deficit cutting plan. Here’s why I believe so: both plans are over extremely long periods of time (how many times have we heard this garbage?); both plans cut in the “out years;” both plans do not include possible recessions and other things mentioned above; and both plans must be administered by the in-your-face lying whores of Congress.
Both plans have exactly zero chance of fixing the profligate spending in US government. The only thing that “might” get it started would be a Constitutional amendment on not a balanced budget (Senators and Representatives simply wouldn’t abide by it), but an amendment of term limits on Congress.
Have you ever wondered just how much $1-trillion really is?
If you laid out 1-trillion $1-bills end-to-end, they would stretch from the Earth to the Sun! If you pointed this same sum of cash to the Moon, it would extend to the moon and back TWO HUNDRED times. If you spent $1 per second, it would take you 31 years to spend $1 billion but it would take almost 32,000 years to spend $1 trillion.
Now consider this: the entire unfunded future promises of American largesse are roughly $113 TRILLION!
Trade Date: 4/13/11
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