Thursday, April 23, 2009

I'm sure y'all have heard the joke about the Obama spending cuts...

I understand about cutting back, but when you have added BILLIONS to the spending $100 MILLION is nothing. Get a grip. Let's not forget that the mear $100 Million he wants to save won't come out of any of HIS projects, which means it will come from things like, Emergency Services, Border Patrol, Military, etc...

Obama Cabinet Spending Cuts Ridiculed Yesterday, President Obama ordered his cabinet to identify $100 million in budget cuts. The CBS Evening News reported that "critics say the amounts are so small," that "it's nothing more than a publicity stunt." CBS added that the President "admitted $100 million is a drop in the budget bucket, but insisted there's a lot more cutting to come." The New York Times says "budget analysts promptly burst out laughing. A reporter declared at the White House briefing that the initiative would become fodder for late-night talk show hosts," and "the Republican Study Committee, a group of fiscal conservatives, put out a news release with the headline 'Obama's 0.0025% spending cut.'" The Cato Institute's Dan Mitchell, appearing on CNBC's The Kudlow Report, said, "I almost thought it was April Fool's Day. Talk about a kick in the teeth for taxpayers. ... And, oh by the way, these wouldn't be spending cuts the way you and I understand it. These would be reductions in the planned increases that are already built into the government budgeting baseline. This was a spit in the face to hard-working American taxpayers." Former labor secretary Robert Reich agreed that "this is pretty small potatoes. I mean, it's the beginning. It's at least a gesture, an important gesture. ... Yes, Obama needs to do more."
The Wall Street Journal reports "Obama has left himself open to the charge of overspending as he focuses on jump-starting the stalled economy with the huge stimulus bill and shoring up its foundations with big overhauls of health care, energy and education." And "anticipating the charge, the administration sought to build savings into its budget plans. But results so far have been modest." The AP says the Obama move "set off outbursts of mental math and scribbled calculations as political friend and foe tried to figure out its impact." Adds the AP, "The bottom line: Not much." The Washington Post, however, reports that in addition to the $100 million, "many other planned reductions are already underway -- and with total savings of far more than $100 million." David Brooks, in his New York Times column, says that "Obama imposes hard choices on others, but has postponed his own. He presented an agenda that bleeds red ink a trillion dollars at a time. Now he seems passive as Congress kills his few revenue ideas (cap and trade) and spending cuts (agricultural subsidies)," and "huge fiscal gaps are opening this decade that can't be closed by distant entitlement reform."

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