T Nation

Obama's 2013 Budget

Politics and World Issues
#1

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/12/presidents-budget-out-monday-already-meets-gop-skepticism/

Just read this (GASP! Fox News? How dare he!) and don’t really know what to make of it. I mean, I’m tired of the Keynesian economic theories and the deficit spending. I don’t think a $4 trillion (Yes, trillion) budget is the way to go. I know I sound like every other conservative/Republican when I say that we need to cut spending (dramatically) if we’re ever to get out of this disaster we call an economic status. But in reality, I don’t ever see it happening with this Congress or this President, or the next 2 or 3 presidents.

Thoughts?

CS

#2

…or 2 or 3 or 4 congresses…GOP OR DEM majority.

It is a SYSTEMIC and HUGE problem that will require the political will of everyone of BOTH parties to solve.

Mufasa

#3

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
…or 2 or 3 or 4 congresses…GOP OR DEM majority.

It is a SYSTEMIC and HUGE problem that will require the political will of everyone of BOTH parties to solve.

Mufasa[/quote]

Agree x9000.

CS

#4

Agreed. Whoever is currently in office, their primary job is to take the blame for all the problems. Other side takes advantage of that to get themselves in office, and repeat.

#5

The spending cuts that need to be made, and really pretty much everything in the budget of any import, are so hard-wired in that they’ll never be removed or cut back on. We all know Medicare is bullshit from a purely fiscal standpoint, for instance, but will it ever be cut from the budget? No. There’d have to be a shitload of Republicans in Congress and one in the White House who’s very popular for it to even be tried. And then the Democrats would flip so far the fuck out that they’d pull cash in from everywhere trying to stall/defeat the bill and would probably succeed. Some of the things in the budget are simply battles that no politician really wants to go all the way through with or could if they tried.

That’s the real problem: the gridlock that our political system has been paralyzed by. Bigtime, meaningful, institutional changes are needed and they can’t be made because the changes threaten the very people who can enact them in a lawful way. This budget thing is just a symptom of a larger problem. The President could put out any fucking budget he wanted.

He could put out a budget that allocated everything into defense spending or everything into archaeological expeditions and the behemoth that the federal govt is now would have forced the budget back into some amalgamation of both parties’ wishes, with one getting more of their pet projects in it than the other. Back and forth from admin. to admin. with little meaningful change. The political battle that ensues in the meantime is like watching two people fight over who’s controlling the tides, with one side claiming victory/credit when it goes out and the other claiming victory/credit when it comes in.

#6

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
The spending cuts that need to be made, and really pretty much everything in the budget of any import, are so hard-wired in that they’ll never be removed or cut back on. We all know Medicare is bullshit from a purely fiscal standpoint, for instance, but will it ever be cut from the budget? No. There’d have to be a shitload of Republicans in Congress and one in the White House who’s very popular for it to even be tried. And then the Democrats would flip so far the fuck out that they’d pull cash in from everywhere trying to stall/defeat the bill and would probably succeed. Some of the things in the budget are simply battles that no politician really wants to go all the way through with or could if they tried.

That’s the real problem: the gridlock that our political system has been paralyzed by. Bigtime, meaningful, institutional changes are needed and they can’t be made because the changes threaten the very people who can enact them in a lawful way. This budget thing is just a symptom of a larger problem. The President could put out any fucking budget he wanted.

He could put out a budget that allocated everything into defense spending or everything into archaeological expeditions and the behemoth that the federal govt is now would have forced the budget back into some amalgamation of both parties’ wishes, with one getting more of their pet projects in it than the other. Back and forth from admin. to admin. with little meaningful change. The political battle that ensues in the meantime is like watching two people fight over who’s controlling the tides, with one side claiming victory/credit when it goes out and the other claiming victory/credit when it comes in.[/quote]

That’s exactly how it was last year.

CS

#7

[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
I know I sound like every other conservative/Republican when I say that we need to cut spending (dramatically) if we’re ever to get out of this disaster we call an economic status

[/quote]

Every conservative/republican who is not in power you mean.

When in power for the last 80 years, they’ve hardly been fiscally frugal.

#8

We have to see how the numbers score when it officially come out, but it’s a joke. It does nothing to deal with the looming threats of entitlement (e.g., Social Security), and simply piles on more spending under the tired rubric of “infrastructure”.

How we still have “infrastructure” spending after the so-called “stimulus” package is beyond me. Of course, anyone paying attention knows full-well that “infrastructure” is nothing but an Orwellian phrase that really means “blank check”.

Americans want leadership on this issue from the White House. They aren’t getting any. It’s time for the members of Congress to ignore the President and the coastal Democrats and start legislating on a bi-partisan basis in a way that will make hard choices so our kids don’t have to.

“When small men cast big shadows, it’s a sign that the sun is about to set.” – Lin Yutang

#9

No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me). We really don’t understand it, as much we’d like to think we do. That’s one of the major problems with the voting system, but, unfortunately, our voting system is the best compromise to date.

#10

[quote]Oleena wrote:
No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me). We really don’t understand it, as much we’d like to think we do. That’s one of the major problems with the voting system, but, unfortunately, our voting system is the best compromise to date.[/quote]

Actually it’s pretty damn simple…when you are running deficits this large and do nothing to reign in the problems, it means we are all FUCKED.

#11

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]Oleena wrote:
No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me). We really don’t understand it, as much we’d like to think we do. That’s one of the major problems with the voting system, but, unfortunately, our voting system is the best compromise to date.[/quote]

Actually it’s pretty damn simple…when you are running deficits this large and do nothing to reign in the problems, it means we are all FUCKED.

[/quote]

Could be. Could also be that there are hundreds of considerations we aren’t aware of.

#12

[quote]Oleena wrote:

[quote]UtahLama wrote:

[quote]Oleena wrote:
No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me). We really don’t understand it, as much we’d like to think we do. That’s one of the major problems with the voting system, but, unfortunately, our voting system is the best compromise to date.[/quote]

Actually it’s pretty damn simple…when you are running deficits this large and do nothing to reign in the problems, it means we are all FUCKED.

[/quote]

Could be. Could also be that there are hundreds of considerations we aren’t aware of.[/quote]

Oh I’m sure…but as long as they pass a budget with a defecit that big, we are screwed.

Until there is a law stating that unless congress passes a balanced budget, they are all removed from office…nothing will change.

Passing the buck at it’s finest.

#13

[quote]Oleena wrote:

No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me).[/quote]

Speak for yourself.

#14

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:

[quote]Oleena wrote:

No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me).[/quote]

Speak for yourself.[/quote]

You’ve spent a good portion of your life learning the ins and outs of government budget on a college+ level?

#15

[quote]Oleena wrote:

You’ve spent a good portion of your life learning the ins and outs of government budget on a college+ level?[/quote]

Well, it’s right there for anyone to read, whether they went to college or not. If you understand basic accounting, and understand the baselines CBO uses to score budgets, and spend any time following the news on the issue (or read websites of groups devoted to the issue, like the Concord Coalition), it’s not that complicated and you can get a grasp on exactly what is happening.

#16

[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:

[quote]Oleena wrote:

You’ve spent a good portion of your life learning the ins and outs of government budget on a college+ level?[/quote]

Well, it’s right there for anyone to read, whether they went to college or not. If you understand basic accounting, and understand the baselines CBO uses to score budgets, and spend any time following the news on the issue (or read websites of groups devoted to the issue, like the Concord Coalition), it’s not that complicated and you can get a grasp on exactly what is happening.[/quote]

Have you actually looked at the COMPLETE, unedited, US government credit and debits sheet? Not the summary?

Have you studied how different policies play out in the long run and under what circumstances? This isn’t accounting 101.

#17

Have you actually looked at the COMPLETE, unedited, US government credit and debits sheet? Not the summary? [/quote]

Well, no, those are not easy to get a hold of. Do you think the President does?

C’mon, Oleena. You don’t have to have written a dissertation on a statistical regressional analysis to understand government budgeting. Neither the President nor the actual members of Congress have the expertise you say is apparently required to “understand” what is happening.

Give me a break. Just because you don’t get it and haven’t spent any time trying to get it doesn’t mean it is indescernible to those who pay attention to it.

#18

[quote]Oleena wrote:
No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me). We really don’t understand it, as much we’d like to think we do. That’s one of the major problems with the voting system, but, unfortunately, our voting system is the best compromise to date.[/quote]

Speak for yourself, pal. I didn’t earn a fucking degree in political science so I could be totally mesmerized by something as simple as the national budget.

#19

[quote]Oleena wrote:
No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me). We really don’t understand it, as much we’d like to think we do. That’s one of the major problems with the voting system, but, unfortunately, our voting system is the best compromise to date.[/quote]

It’s quite simple really.

Don’t trust the government to get shit done in an honest and efficient manner.

Maximus’ daddy used to say, (roughly translated)…“the government stays awake all night, to find a way to screw you during the day.”

#20

[quote]Oleena wrote:
No one in here is fucking qualified to discuss a government budget (including me). We really don’t understand it, as much we’d like to think we do. That’s one of the major problems with the voting system, but, unfortunately, our voting system is the best compromise to date.[/quote]

Damn , I 'm impressed honesty

I must warn you though you may be deemed as less intelligent as those pretending to understand what they are talking about :slight_smile: