$100 million budget cuts in a $3.5 trillion world of spending.

After a couple of days of well deserved rest, I figured jumping back into the blogging fray with a shot of ridicule across the Obama administration's bow on their budget cuts would be appropriate.

This ridiculous attempt at "fiscal responsibility" is far more insulting to a person's intelligence than any GOP budget proposal could ever hope to be. Here are some very keen observations on what cutting $100 million from government waste is equivalent to.

From Greg Mankiw's Blog,

Just to be clear: $100 million represents .003 percent of $3.5 trillion.

To put those numbers in perspective, imagine that the head of a household with annual spending of $100,000 called everyone in the family together to deal with a $34,000 budget shortfall. How much would he or she announce that spending had be cut? By $3 over the course of the year--approximately the cost of one latte at Starbucks. The other $33,997? We can put that on the family credit card and worry about it next year.

From CQ Politics,

And it’s only a downpayment: In his weekly address this weekend, Obama said the next step will be to announce “the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective.”

So $100 million is a pretty big chunk of federal spending that would be reined in, right? Actually, no. Not compared to the $3.7 trillion Obama proposed spending in the fiscal 2010 budget. If you want to put it in perspective, Obama asked the department and agency heads to cut the equivalent of about 1/37,000th of his budget plans.

Or, if you want to use the Senate and House budget resolutions instead — which trimmed Obama’s spending plans back to about $3.5 trillion — you could say that he’s trying to cut about 1/35,000th of the budget.

But it might be more fair to compare the spending cuts to the size of the annual deficits, since that’s what Obama is trying to get under control. In fiscal 2010, the deficit would be about $1.4 trillion under Obama’s policies, according to the Congressional Budget Office (the deficits would gradually get smaller in later years). So in that sense, the Obama administration would be cutting about 1/14,000th of the deficit for next year.

It seems fairly apparent that the administration is tired of hiding their disdain for the intelligence of the people of this country. At least with this they are finally being honest that they think we are stupid.

(H/T to memeorandum)


Related Articles: For a really comical take on the current state of affairs within our country and some truthfully zany solutions please read comedian, Robert Reich's article in TPM. Be careful not to bust a gut laughing.


Where Government Spending Should be Trimmed -- And Why It's Necessary to Fast-Track Universal Health Care

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Earmarking GOP Hypocrites

TaxPayers for CommonSense has put together a fantastic data base on the Omnibus spending bill, the states which receive the most earmarks and the worst government offenders.

From TaxPayers for CommonSense,



Cochran (R-MS.), Wicker (R-MS.), Landrieu (D-LA.), Harkin (D-WI.), Vitter (R-LA.), Bond (R-MO.), Feinstein (D-CA.), Inouye (D-HI.), Shelby (R-AL.), and Grassley (R-IA.)

Six out of the ten worst offenders are Republicans. If you are going to talk the talk, then you are going have to walk the walk. They are HYPOCRITES and there is no getting around it.

Of course, for the Mississippi and Louisiana delegation, there is the argument that Congress has been holding back or releasing Katrina money for assisting homeowners to rebuild. This has left these Senators with little choice but to seek out extra money to help in the effort to rebuild their states. You can decide that one for yourself, to me there is no excuse.

Republican leadership and some constituents are indignant about the Obama's spending and earmarks, his hypocrisy is inconsequential. Anyone who is politically informed should know that he would say one thing and do another, eternally campaigning.

Nevertheless, the GOP is another story, the leadership has chosen to stand under the banner of fiscal conservatism in an effort to reunite the party and to have a chance to stand against the Democrats in 2010. The question is how can you preach a certain standard, talk about Obama's inadequacies, and then not live up to that standard? This equates a recipe for defeat. So, until the GOP cleans up its own house you should get used to hearing Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid.

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