Launch of Budget Super Committee
Sept 13- This morning marked the launch of the Super Committee website. During the debt ceiling debate, this committee was mandated to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in deficit (budget shortfall) savings over the next ten years.
On their website (link here) you can find committee news and notices, live-streamed hearings and a section where you can send the committee suggestions for reducing the deficit spending.
If you have some good IDEAS to suggest, please pass them along to the committee by clicking on the link below
http://deficitreduction.senate.gov/public/
Local Radio Host Offers Valid Question...
When is a budget cut not a budget cut? The answer is simple; anytime the government is involved.
The federal budget year runs from October 1 through September 30 of the following year. In February 2010, the president requests $3.83 trillion for fiscal year 2011. The 2011 budget never passes the Democrat controlled senate and house, which chooses to operate under continuing resolutions with spending at the level presented in the president’s proposal. The Democrats lose badly in the 2010 mid-term election. The resolutions continue.
The headlines from mid-April, 2011 scream, “Budget cut by $78 Billion” announcing the historic deal between the Republicans in the house and the senate, and the president, concerning the 2011 federal government budget which runs through September 30, so the deal is done with less than half the budget year remaining.
I take no issue with brokering a deal to keep the government in operation. I take issue with the untruthfulness of the language. The 2010 federal budget was $3.552 trillion. After the $78 billion of so-called “budget cuts”, the 2011 budget is $3.752 trillion, a $200 billion increase over the previous year.
The media, including most conservative talk show hosts, are complicit in the deception. The wrong questions are asked; “Was the cut really $78 billion or was it more like $36 billion, or could the cut be measured in mere millions?” Besides, there are bigger fish to fry. The debt ceiling debate approaches. Our attention shifts, with the misplaced confidence that we were at least somewhat successful in the battle to reduce government spending.
Most interpret that a budget cut is a reduction in spending from the previous year. In government budgeting, a proposed budget is presented and talks of cuts concern the proposed budget, not the previous year's budget. We wrongly trust the language. We may not trust the other politicians, but we trust our politicians. Surely, with the mid-term election results fresh in their minds, our politicians would talk frankly and honestly with the people. We are so naïve. The political class is once again successful with its deception. The government, already spending wildly, grows yet larger. The public’s lasting perception is that there was a $78 billion decrease in spending from the previous year, not a $200 billion increase.
Do not let the political class have lasting success in this deception. Please let others know the truth.
The Steve Meyer Show on Capitalism and Politics is broadcast Saturday afternoons from 3 to 4 from Vero Beach, Florida at 1490AM and may be downloaded anytime at the WTTBAM.com website
Raise the Debt Ceiling or Stop the Spending Spree?
Federal spending and federal borrowing have been out of control for decades as America has amassed a giant, unaffordable debt and a giant, intrusive government. This did not happen by accident. Congress passed all the laws that made it happen. Fortunately, Congress has under the Constitution all the power it needs to solve the problem it created. As federal borrowing approaches the current debt limit of $14.294 trillion, Congress must accomplish three things to put the United States on a path to financial responsibility: (1) cut current spending, (2) restrict future spending, and (3) fix the budget process.
Debt financed our country’s freedom; debt now shackles us. Regrettably, Congress has exercised its control of borrowing to mire the American people in trillions of dollars of debt. The U.S. Secretary of the Treasury has reported to Congress that the government soon will reach the current statutory debt limit of $14.294 trillion and has asked Congress to raise the debt limit so the government can borrow more money.
Congress should not authorize the government to borrow any more money to pay the government’s bills coming due without first setting the government firmly on the path to financial responsibility. When Congress considers legislation on the debt limit in the coming months, it should cut current spending, restrict future spending, and put a more effective federal budgeting process in place. Read More
Proposed Budget Cuts
If Congress needs more ideas, here is $343 billion that could be cut from the federal budget.
