The Republican presidential primaries, already seemingly endless, roll on. With Newt Gingrich’s big win in South Carolina, the race is in disarray. Gingrich is on the rise, Mitt Romney’s shield of inevitability has been dented, and Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are hanging on. The focus now moves to Florida. As has come to be [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Budget Deficit’
The Race Rolls On, And The Big Issues Linger
Posted in America, Politics, tagged 2012 Republican presidential race, America, Budget Deficit, Federal Debt, Florida, Iowa, Mitt Romney, National Debt, New Hampshire, Newt Gingrich, Politics, President Obama, Republican Presidential Candidates, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, South Carolina on January 23, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Anticipating Supercommittee Failure
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, National Debt, Politics, stock market on November 20, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The news about the debt supercommittee — the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction — is not good. According to the Washington Post, the supercommittee members have gone on the Sunday talk shows to effectively concede they won’t succeed and to begin to prepare for the impending failure. We can expect that each side will [...]
Our Nora Desmond-Like Leaders
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Federal Government, Federal Spending, Joe Gillis, Nora Desmond, Politics, Sunset Boulevard on October 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The Congressional Budget Office recently released its statistics on the federal budget for fiscal year 2011. The results are staggering — and completely inconsistent with the notion that the federal government has engaged in any kind of belt-tightening. According to the CBO, the federal government spent $3.6 trillion in fiscal year 2011, and racked up [...]
Giving Taxpayers The Bird
Posted in America, Environment, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Environment, Federal Spending, Politics, Sage Grouse, United States Department of Agriculture, USDA on August 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The United States Department of Agriculture — the same entity that proved unable to answer the question a farmer posed to President Obama recently — is paying western farmers and ranchers millions of dollars to protect a bird that is not on the endangered species list because there are too many of them. The bird [...]
Not Distracted By The Debt Ceiling Fan Dance
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Congress, Debt Ceiling, Fan Dances, Federal Spending, House Republicans, Politics, President Obama, United States Senate on July 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A week has gone by, the August 2 default deadline creeps ever nearer, and still the antic debt ceiling political dance continues. It’s like an old fan dance, where the flashing fans of the dancer seek to tantalize while hiding what lies beneath. The Senate has contributed the ill-defined “Gang of Six” proposal. The House [...]
The Debt Limit Merry-Go-Round
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Debt Ceiling, Democrats, Federal Budget, Merry-Go-Rounds, Politics, President Obama, Republicans, Timothy Geithner on July 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The talks between Republicans and Democrats about raising our national debt limit are frustrating to follow. It’s like a merry-go-round. The people go round and round and there appears to be activity, but nothing ever goes anywhere. All the while, the August 2 deadline — after which the United States will default, according to Treasury [...]
Time To Get Realistic About The Postal Service
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, e-mail, Federal Budget, Letters, Politics, Postal Service, USPS on May 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Let’s face it — the Postal Service, as we know it, is doomed. How many people write letters anymore? How many people under the age of 30 have ever even received a handwritten letter? The U.S. Postal Service lost $2.2 billion in the first quarter of this year. $2.2 billion! Why? There are at least [...]
Who Is This Guy? (The Time And Timing Side)
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Debt Failsafe, Federal Budget, Federal Debt, Paul Ryan, Politics, President Obama on April 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
One other point about President Obama’s April 13 speech on fiscal policy struck me, and that was the whole question of time and timing. The budget savings numbers cited by the President in his speech all were based on a 12-year period, rather than the 10-year period typically used in long-term budgeting. For example, House [...]
Who Is This Guy? (The Revenue Side)
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Class Politics, Federal Budget, Federal Debt, income taxes, Politics, President Obama on April 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The next part of President Obama’s approach to the budget deficit, outlined in his April 13 speech, addressed what he called “tax expenditures” and “spending in the tax code.” At the outset, he said he regretted agreeing to extend “tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans” only a few months ago, but explained that he did [...]
Who Is This Guy? (The Health Care Side)
Posted in America, Healthcare Reform, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Federal Budget, Health care, Health Care Reform, Politics, President Obama on April 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The third part of the approach President Obama outlined in his fiscal policy speech on April 13 addressed health care costs. He first contrasted his approach with his characterization of the Republican plan. He said Republicans intended to reduce health care costs in the federal budget by “asking seniors and poor families” to pay the [...]
Who Is This Guy? (The Defense Side)
Posted in America, Politics, World, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Defense Spending, Federal Budget, Politics, President Obama, World on April 16, 2011 | 1 Comment »
The second part of President Obama’s fiscal policy speech on April 13 addressed the defense budget. He dealt with that issue in two paragraphs. In the first, he assured us that he would “never accept cuts that compromise our ability to defend our homeland or America’s interests around the world,” but noted that the Chairman [...]
Who Is This Guy? (The Spending Side)
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Federal Budget, Federal Spending, Government spending, Politics, President Obama on April 14, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I was very interested in President Obama’s speech yesterday about our serious budget problems. Because I wanted to get an unfiltered understanding of his position, I read the speech in its entirety on the White House website, here. After I finished, I was left with a lot of questions. The biggest one was: “Who is [...]
Federal Facebook Follies
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Facebook, Federal Budget, Federal Employees, Federal Government, Federal Workers, Politics on April 10, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Does the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs really need to hire someone to manage a Facebook page for the Department of the Interior, to the tune of up to $115,000 a year? That’s one of more than 1,000 federal government job openings in the Washington, D.C. area that were advertised in March. My guess is [...]
The Republic Is Saved!
Posted in America, Politics, tagged 2010 Federal Budget, America, Budget Deficit, Congress, Debt Ceiling, Democrats, Federal Budget, Harry Reid, john boehner, National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade, Politics, President Obama, Republicans on April 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A budget deal has been struck (at the last minute, of course)! So today, the federal government is open for business! History has been made! The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade can go forward! The Republic is saved! From the self-congratulatory tone of some the public statements of the participants, you’d think our elected [...]
Budget Chicken
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Budget Deficit, Democrats, Federal Budget, Government Shutdown, Harry Reid, john boehner, Politics, President Obama, Republicans, The Mary Tyler Moore Show on April 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
We are a few hours away from the point at which the federal government will run out of money and have to shut down — at least in certain respects. President Obama, House Republicans, and Senate Democrats are trying to hammer out a deal as the witching hour draws ever closer. It is like a [...]
