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Forums - General - Obama to Cut Budget by $17 Billion

$18 Billion is more than half the amount of ALL the pork barrel spending in last year's budget.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

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HappySqurriel said:
akuma587 said:
TheRealMafoo said:
akuma587 said:
halogamer1989 said:
Orca_Azure said:
17 billion out of a 3.2 trillion budget :p gotta love that

3.6 billion for the 2010 fiscal year...

 

Actually it is 3.44 trillion.

The budget is going to grow to some degree every year either in real terms, based on the increase in size of the economy and the population of the country, and in nominal terms, based on increases in inflation. So people have to take these numbers with that in mind as well.

 

These numbers should grow each year with GDP. Why then when GDP is going to drop 12%, they go up 50%?

 

That's your assessment. Many economists would say the exact opposite, that the government's share of GDP should substantially increase when GDP drops for the health of the economy.

 

Well, with how many economists were claiming that the housing market wasn't in a bubble in 2006/2007 and didn't see the impending credit crisis until it had already become a massive problem do you really feel confident that economists have a strong understanding of the economy?

The economy really isn't that complicated and, much like a forest fires are needed to have a healthy forest, you must have economic downturns in order to keep your economy healthy. Government intervention to prevent companies from failing is like protecting trees with pine-beetle infestations from the forest fire; in the long run the government is doing more damage because the lack of moral hazard will lead to other companies making the same mistakes without fear of the consequences. Unemployment is like burnt trees that have collapsed on the forest floor, and when the government produces government jobs it is like taking this burnt material away from the forest to make it look neater; but the burnt material is the nutrients that lead to the forest re-growing stronger than it was before, and the unemployment leads to an affordable and motivated workforce which is necessary for the next generation of companies.

 

The health of the economy is best maintained by the government staying out of the way of people, allowing them to develop the technologies and products of the future, and to encourage them to sell their products to as many people as possible (through free trade).

You are assuming that the GOP has any kind of credibility whatsoever on this issue or, even if they do, that they will follow through on it.  This article says it better than I can:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1896588,00.html

The problem for Republicans, as the RNC's Steele memorably put it in a TV appearance, is that there's "absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions." Republicans, after all, proclaimed that President Clinton's tax hikes would destroy the economy, that GOP rule would mean smaller government, that Bush's tax cuts would usher in a new era of prosperity; now the House minority leader says it's "comical" to think carbon dioxide could be harmful, and Steele says the earth is cooling.

 



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

akuma587 said:
$18 Billion is more than half the amount of ALL the pork barrel spending in last year's budget.

 

So your cutting only half of what this guy says is an insignificant amount of the budget... good for you.



Tyrannical said:

All you need to know about the article.

But it was unclear Wednesday whether the $17 billion in savings in 2010 would be used to fund other federal programs or to reduce the country's growing deficit.

 

 Hello?????

It's not a budget "cut" until we're sure Obama isn't going to just spend that money some where else.



Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

I actually had it wrong, $17 Billion is probably about the same amount or greater than all the pork barrel spending out there:

http://www.newuniversity.org/main/article?slug=pork_barrel_spending_brings7

Do I think more cuts are necessary?  Yes.  Do I think we are going to see them until the economy recovers?  No.

 



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

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akuma587 said:

You are assuming that the GOP has any kind of credibility whatsoever on this issue or, even if they do, that they will follow through on it. This article says it better than I can:

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1896588,00.html

The problem for Republicans, as the RNC's Steele memorably put it in a TV appearance, is that there's "absolutely no reason, none, to trust our word or our actions." Republicans, after all, proclaimed that President Clinton's tax hikes would destroy the economy, that GOP rule would mean smaller government, that Bush's tax cuts would usher in a new era of prosperity; now the House minority leader says it's "comical" to think carbon dioxide could be harmful, and Steele says the earth is cooling.

 

 


Who said anything about the Republicans? The fact that the other political party is often wrong doesn't mean that the actions of the Democrats are currently correct ...



Obama's such elitist. How dare he have his burger with mustard!? MUSTARD!!



Galaki said:
Obama's such elitist. How dare he have his burger with mustard!? MUSTARD!!

Why did you bring that up?

For those who don't know, MSNBC and the whitehouse created a photo-op for the president and vice president to go get burgers to look like "Average Guys"; while it is a little unusual to stage these kinds of photo-ops outside of an election campaign there is nothing really wrong with it. Barack Obama decided to get dijon mustard on his burger (which there is nothing wrong with) and MSNBC decided to edit out him ordering the dijon mustard (which seems a little unusual, but is really nothing). Bloggers saw this and instantly connected dijon mustard with the old Grey Poupon comercials and made jokes that there was a massive conspiracy to hide that Obama was an elitest; from what I saw, the majority of the jokes were poking fun at the news media more than at the president.

Now, since every president has been made fun of for (pretty much) everything and their supporters seem to laugh along or let it roll of their backs when it is something as silly as this. What is unusual about this non-event is how rabid some of Obama's supporters have been over very mild and tame jokes ...

 



HappySqurriel said:
Galaki said:
Obama's such elitist. How dare he have his burger with mustard!? MUSTARD!!

Why did you bring that up?

 

Every thread needs a little humour.



Super Obama, his secret is revealed