Republicans in the House have come up with a plan to reduce the deficit somewhat in the near future. An opinion piece on it, written by the authors of the plan, can be found here. The plan calls for eliminating the rest of the unspent money from the stimulus, $125 billion and then freezing spending levels to 2006 levels. The rest of the money is going to come from various cuts to non-defense discretionary spending to add up to $2.5 trillion dollars by 2021. The usual critique about this plan are as follows: It does nothing to the defense budget where there is plenty of money to be saved by eliminating Cold War era programs. It also leaves a great deal of things unspecified, namely what programs would be eliminated. Is Medicare going to be touched? (No, it isn't.) Non-defense discretionary spending encompasses a variety of things that people like, like the FBI, Coast Guard, Pell Grants, Farm Subsidies, and other programs.
What I dislike most about the nature of these kinds of proposals by Republicans, is that they are highly disingenuous and off-hand in their statements. Of course you can identify programs to cut, I could cut through the budget and find a bunch of things that would add up to a lot of money eventually. I could eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, Congress' Healthcare and Pensions, along with Farm Subsidies, any and all tax breaks, and the VA. I could also have the Fed call in all the debts that the states owe to the Federal government. Eventually things would start looking great for the deficit. Key problem though, none of these things would pass. Want to know why? There's no political will to change any of these things. It's easy to point out things that could be cut and say you have a plan. The reality of the situation though is that all of the expensive programs that really contribute to the deficit, like Defense, Homeland Security, Medicare, and low taxes, have strong political support that will prevent them from being cut. People point to the lack of needing an F-22 to fight militants in Afghanistan, but the plane has parts built in every state and Congressmen love bringing military money to their district. Until we stop voting for Congressmen who engage in that kind of behavior, it's not going to be stop. Besides, we like that kind of stuff too. It does mean increased employment of typically higher paying jobs.
The reason I have my friend Admiral Akbar up top is to highlight a point I want to make to any and all individuals who think the deficit is a problem. Yes it may be an issue, but right now the most important thing to take care of is the economy and unemployment. The deficit has nothing to do with either of things being so severe. Cutting a bunch of programs like the FBI, Pell grants, and aid to the states will eliminate jobs and increase the strain on the rest of the economy. More unemployed people means lower wages, more strain on social services, and a more sluggish economy. Any talk of deficit reduction by Republicans is aimed towards eliminating Progressive government, not actually fixing the deficit. Far more money could be saved by eliminating subsidies to business, tax loopholes, and breaks, and cutting the outrageous spending on defense. Besides, what happened the last time the budget was balanced? Bush came in, cut a bunch of taxes, launched a huge wave of spending not only on the wars, but also on social programs like the Medicare Drug Plan. What leads anyone to believe that it's going to be any different in the future? Chris Christie is cutting spending left and right in New Jersey all so he can cut taxes too. That's like me being in debt, cutting out beer, and then also taking a pay cut from my job. Democrats and Liberals everywhere, any talk of deficit reduction is a trap!
No comments:
Post a Comment