Question: What is the difference between fiscal and monetary policy?
Answer: Fiscal = budgetary choices of taxing and spending
Question: What is the best way to attack the budget in 2011, with a scalpel or a machete?
Answer: Depends on who you ask, the President who submitted his 2011 $3.69 trillion budget this week, or the House Republicans who critiqued that in increasing the federal budget from $3.60 trillion in 2010, President Obama "punted" the fiscal train wreck once again.
The Two Teachers at CBS 2 School had their take, with a comparative analytical eye on the Grammy's:
Just look at this year’s Grammy winners and decide for yourself. President Obama could not have asked for a better opening act to his budget proposal this week.
Lady Antebellum, who brought both shock and awe to the Grammys this year, won big for their song, “Need You Now.” Equally showing shock and awe the president this week proposed his $3.7 trillion budget for 2012. The leadership from both political parties rained down criticism. Obama is going to need, at the very least, the help from his own Democratic Party.
President George W. Bush shocked us in 2002 by proposing a $2 trillion dollar budget. The trillion-dollar marker was first crossed back in 1967. It would not take another thirty years to add another trillion. Obama crossed into $3 trillion just six years later. Combined with historically high deficits today’s outrageous budget numbers make Lady Gaga look down right dull.
President Obama and his budget team are attempting to pass off these record deficits and debt by assuring us we were just “Born This Way.”
Strangely, the Republicans seem to be channeling Eminem. His most recent effort “Recovery” was the top selling album of 2010. The same could be said of the Republican Party. Aided by the Tea Party, Republicans have recovered their majority of the House of Representatives.
With their newfound confidence Republicans are “Not Afraid” to take a stand against the president and his “monsters.” Resurrecting memories from the Carter administration, House Speaker Boehner can be heard crying out, “Holla if you feel that you’ve been down the same road.”
The Grammy artist who seems to have touched closest to our nerves, however, is singer-songwriter Cee Lo Green. Some might remember him as vocalist of Gnarls Barkley and the smash hit “Crazy.” We were singing that song just as the unknown Barack Obama was deciding to run for president four years ago.
Today Cee Lo Green is singing a different tune.
He is no longer crazy. He is angry. The new normal is unacceptable.
His monster hit can be song in many different ways. Even Gwyneth Paltrow covered it during an episode of “Glee.” Cee Lo Green’s “Lady Killer” lyrics reflect the angst of our age.
President Obama is singing about mo’ green. You can understand if our first reaction is “Forget you.”
Obama: I didn't punt on entitlement reform in federal budget
(Christian Science Monitor)
Washington
President Obama pushed back Tuesday on bipartisan criticism that his 2012 budget proposal fails to address the unchecked growth of government entitlement programs – foremost Medicare and Medicaid, which are big contributors to the nation’s unsustainable fiscal picture.
In an hour-long press conference, Mr. Obama suggested the omission was by design, and that the goal is to reach consensus in a negotiation, not through public posturing. Obama also asserted that the report last December by his bipartisan deficit commission, which called for far steeper deficit reduction than in his 2012 budget, has not been “shelved;” it still provides the “framework” for a conversation.
"Look at the history of how these deals get done," Obama said. "Typically it's not because there's an Obama plan out there. It's because Democrats and Republicans are committed to tackling this in a serious way."
RELATED: Can economy's 2010 growth spurt last? Five clues.
Obama referred to the 1983 deal struck by President Ronald Reagan and Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neill addressing the insolvency of Social Security as a model of bipartisan problem-solving. He suggested the same approach in tackling entitlement reform and tax reform.
“This is going to be a process in which each side, in both chambers of Congress, go back and forth and start trying to whittle their differences down until we arrive at something,” Obama said. That’s his “goal,” he said, not to “get a good headline on the first day.”
Patience urged for 'negotiation process'
Obama also chided the news media for being “pretty impatient,” not just on his approach to the deficit commission but also on Egypt, health-care reform, and repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” By referencing those three historic events that took place on his watch, Obama in effect promised progress, sooner or later, in addressing the nation’s structural deficits. He left the timing vague.
“We're going to be in discussions over the next several months,” he said. “I mean, this is going to be a negotiation process.”
When asked about the possibility of a government shutdown, if Congress and the president cannot agree upon funding levels beyond March 4, Obama again preached bipartisan negotiation. He warned against making “symbolic cuts” that could endanger the economic recovery.
“Let’s use a scalpel. Let’s not use a machete,” he said. “And if we do that, there should be no reason at all for a government shutdown.”
This NY Times graphic breaks down how the 2011 budget, if approved, will be spent:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html?src=tp
And here is a re-run graphic of what $1 trillion looks like....now times 3.69 and you have the 2011 Federal Budget.
2 comments:
I feel somehow that our budget deficit won't reduce unless we cut down on the required spending increases inherent within the system. Unless we stop the required increase to defense spending, we won't be able to truly balance the budget. Indeed, with our defense spending where it is, we will not be able to afford the social programs that are necessary to support this country. If we do not redistribute government revenue to make the budget more efficient and to focus on areas where spending is needed, we risk mindlessly pouring money at groups that don't want or don't need the funding. As they said in Dave, if we run a business like we're running this country, we would have been bankrupt years ago.
Great post. I am going through many of these issues as well.
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