Friday, June 17, 2011

Be a good American; cut back

The following makes for good reading, whether or not it's accurate. The first thing that jumped out at me is that I don't think it's the Cabinet that cuts the Federal budget. But, aside from a minor "detail" like that, enjoy the following. I don't know its source or I'd give proper credit.

I HOPE YOU WILL PARTICIPATE AND DO YOUR PART!

The President ordered the cabinet to cut $100 million from the $3.5 trillion federal budget.

I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same thing with my personal budget. I spend about $2000 a month on groceries, household expenses, medicine, utilities, etc., but it's time to get out the budget cutting axe, go through my expenses, and cut back.

I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio, 1/35,000 of my total budget. After doing the math, it looks like, instead of spending $2000 a month, I'm going to have to cut that number by six cents. 
 
Yes, I'm going to have to get by with $1999.94, but that's what sacrifice is all about. I'll just have to do without some things that are, frankly, luxuries.

(Did the president actually think no one would do the math? Please send this to everyone on your list so people understand what a load this is --- as if they didn't already know)
John Q. Taxpayer

3 comments:

Dave Labuz said...

That's why this issue is so complicated. Most people have little practical knowledge of our spending. Too many zeros, too much complacency predicated on most people's inability to comprehend anyway, or else refusal to spend the time to comprehend.

Here is a great video that demonstrates the spending problem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWt8hTayupE

Dave Labuz said...

Essentially, Obama asked his Cabinet Secretaries to come up with these cuts to their Departments' budgets, as the Cabinet and their Departments are part of the Executive branch.

As a fraction of Cabinet-level spending, these cuts are larger than when compared to the entire Budget.

However, all this means is that Obama is merely posing, not proposing. He can direct his underlings to find cuts. Such cuts though, are entirely irrelevant unless Congress, specifically The House, incorporate those "cuts" into an actual Budget.

Dave Labuz said...

So Obama will say, "Hey - I did my part". But he really hasn't.

In order to actually do his job, he needs to pick up the phone and talk to Pelosi and Reid. The Republican Majority in the House will greet his proposed Cabinet budget cuts with open arms - if they ever received them in the first place, which I doubt.

Unless Reid can cobble together Democrat support for ANY BUDGET AT ALL (it's been well over 2 years now without ANY Budget), the President's proposed cuts will never be made, nor any serious cuts of any kind to anything.

Yet Obama will "look good" to those who don't know what's going on.