Obama and the military

Obama vetoed the NDAA. He stabbed our military in the back and sunk us at a very dangerous time—right on the heels of his giving the store to Iran to build nuclear weapons. Such bills had been vetoed by only four past presidents according to WSJ—in 1978, 1988, 1995 and 2007. In each case, the president objected to an actual provision in the bill, and each time Congress’s Armed Services committees were able to find a compromise that earned the presidential signature. Obama isn't about bi-partisanship or compromise.

In vetoing this legislation, President Obama has made history, but for all the wrong reasons. He has become the first commander in chief willing to sacrifice national security by vetoing a bill that authorizes pay, benefits and training for U.S. troops, simply because he seeks leverage to pursue his domestic political agenda.

The president didn’t veto the bill because of any of its policies, which make some of the most significant reforms to the Pentagon in more than 30 years, while giving troops the vital capabilities necessary to combat today’s mounting threats. (Wall St. Journal)

Defense is part of discretionary spending. It’s 16% of the $3.8 trillion compared to the 60% (mandated) spending on Medicare, Medicaid, S0cial Security, unemployment.

Did sequestration matter?

“While the sequester is an imperfect mechanism to reduce spending, as the brunt of the cuts falls disproportionally on defense, it only amounts to a 2.5 percent reduction in spending over 10 years. This hardly lives up to the President’s warnings that the cuts would be “harmful” to the economy and would decimate government services. As you can see, the U.S. has a long way to go to rein in its growing spending.”

http://blog.heritage.org/2013/12/27/money-pictures-top-5-charts-2013/

Did you notice that the sequester and the government shut down actually helped the third quarter?

The government shut down scam

When the rest of us have a set back or need to budget, we move money from the non-essentials. Not the government. Those departments raced to spend their allotment before the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30) because of the use it or lose it mentality, and always asking for more based on what was spent the previous year. If I were short of cash, I would be making coffee at home for 5 cents instead of paying $2 at a shop where I could chat with my neighbors. If I were running low, I'd make every trip in the car count. And I'd make sure my church pledge was paid before I'd take out the credit card at Macy's.

This government shut down has happened 17 times since 1976. I bounced one check in 53 years because I had 2 checking accounts when I was a private contractor and wrote a check on the wrong account. Imagine your credit rating if you'd done this that often. And you don't even get to print money!

Sequestration, or where are the cuts?

Most of our tax money (70%) goes for social programs, especially Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and Social Security.  Some conservatives don’t like Social Security and Medicare called an “entitlement,” but they truly are—we should be entitled to what we paid in with interest. (I’m not because I have a teacher’s pension and get nothing for what I paid in to SS in non-government jobs, nor a spousal benefit.)  And it isn't the fault of Obama, as some detractors claim (he's got more than enough problems without giving him that one.) That will only increase.

The defense budget is extremely small, although the sequestration was Obama's idea (now trying to blame GOP) and is a rather small amount, it will certainly hurt the thousands of civilian employees right now as other lower paid jobs become unavailable because of raising the minimum wage—which always hurts the economy. It's a wonderful 2-fer for the president to hurt the economy even more which seems to be his major desire as he flits from gay marriage to stomping out freedom of religion to passing out free contraceptives instead of freeing up businesses to create more wealth.

The federal government should have stayed out of education--it wastes a lot of that money, and that responsibility was left to the states. Head Start, one of the biggest federal wastes with a 40 year history of failure, will probably get money better spent on bridges and roads, that he never gets around to that despite his promises. http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/23/chart-of-the-week-70-of-spending-goes-to-dependence-programs/

Notice the proposed cuts—of both parties

Where does the money go?

In 2010, the federal government spent 61% of its finances on housing and community services, welfare and social services, recreation and culture, health, education, retirement benefits, disability benefits and unemployment benefits. This amounts to 2,124 billion dollars or $19,316/household. "Government Current Expenditures by Function, Table 3.16." U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Sept. 14, 2011.

http://www.justfacts.com/socialspending.basics.asp

Paul, please run for President!

Paul Ryan has old-fashioned goals, says Real Clear Markets.com, like saving America from fiscal bankruptcy, economic stagnation, and a European-style entitlement state.

Paul Ryan's old fasioned American vision

In a White House meeting this year, Ryan's superior knowledge of health care baffled Obama and left him speechless. And the serious Ryan budget, which lowers spending by $6.2 trillion and reduces deficits by $4.4 trillion over ten years, totally outflanked the White House. It embarrassingly exposed the Obama administration's flimsy and inconsequential 2012 budget, which even rejected the findings of Obama's own Bowles-Simpson fiscal commission. (Another Oval Office embarrassment.)

And when Ryan unveiled his first Medicare-reform package, which featured patient-centered consumer choice and market competition, the White House went nuts. Team Obama whipped up a Mediscare panic, resorting to a fictional caricature of Ryan forcing old ladies off a cliff. But the charge that the Ryan plan "ends Medicare" couldn't be further from the truth. The website PolitiFact labeled this "the lie of the year."

Ryan later amended his Medicare reform to keep the existing system as an option, and bolstered it with a menu of market-based private insurance plans to promote cost-cutting choice and competition. But he did so with the bipartisan support of Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon. How did the White House react? It went rhetorically ballistic, although it couldn't put together a serious response.

Virginia's governor supports Governor Walker of Wisconsin

HT Bob Kirchman, a Virginia blogger, Christian and conservative. Also a great photographer. Check out his web site.

Douglas W. Elmendorf--a very important guy

"Elmendorf may be the most important financial analyst in America: his client list is all 535 members of the U.S. Congress. His job is to "score" or provide a cost estimate of important legislation wending its way through the House and Senate. His cost analysis can often make or break a bill's future."
Douglas W. Elmendorf - WhoRunsGov.com/The Washington Post

Others on the CBO Staff

In his own words (blog): "The United States faces daunting economic and budgetary challenges. The economy has struggled to recover from the recent recession: The pace of growth in output has been anemic compared with that during most other recoveries and the unemployment rate has remained quite high. Federal budget deficits and debt have surged in the past two years, owing to a combination of the severe drop in economic activity, the costs of policies implemented in response to the financial and economic problems, and an imbalance between revenues and spending that predated the recession. Unfortunately, it is likely that a return to normal economic conditions will take years, and even after the economy has fully recovered, a return to sustainable budget conditions will require significant changes in tax and spending policies."

217 Democrats committing suicide

When I got back from church tonight, I checked my site meter, and my blog about the Morgenthau quote had suddenly gone off the charts, so I back tracked through referrals and found I'd been cited by Roger L. Simon.

. . . the substance is true. The New Deal made the Depression worse – and we are doing it again, only with bigger numbers and more zeros. Furthermore, now the Chinese own us. We enact this nonsensical budget and we might as well give them the whole thing – the Statue of Liberty, McDonald’s and Apple Computer. No backsies. They can have Steve Jobs’ next iPad extravaganza in Shanghai. They build everything over there already anyway.

But unfortunately this is no joke. The passing of this budget is a straight out act of economic insanity. Everyone knows it. The 217 Democrats who passed it surely know it too. Only they are too corrupt to face it honestly. Shame on them. Shame on them. Shame on them.

Obama's military expenditure projection

"To carry out the Obama administration's defense plans, the Pentagon will need its non-war-related spending over the next 18 years to average 6 percent more than the amount sought in its fiscal 2010 budget request, according to CBO testimony Wednesday before the House Budget Committee.

Despite efforts to cut unnecessary programs and otherwise rein in defense budgets that have spiked since 2001, the Pentagon still will need roughly $567 billion annually, in constant 2010 dollars, for its base budgets between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2028, Matthew Goldberg, CBO acting assistant director, told the panel. That figure, which does not include war costs, marks a $33 billion increase over the fiscal 2010 base defense budget request. . .

Meanwhile, spending on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan still makes up about 35 percent, or $154 billion, of the total defense budget request for fiscal 2010. Long-term estimates on war spending hinge largely on whether and how many additional troops President Obama decides to send to Afghanistan.

Daggett also noted that each U.S. soldier deployed to Afghanistan for one year costs about $1 million. By comparison, one Afghan soldier costs $12,000 annually.

Meanwhile, the current monthly "burn rate" in Afghanistan is $3.6 billion. But that would grow to about $7.2 billion -- or the same rate that the United States is spending monthly in Iraq -- if Obama decides to send in 50,000 additional troops, he said." Link

Ohio's unemployment rate

is now over 9%. When the Democrats and Governor Strickland took over the state in the 2006 elections it was half that. They ran on an "ethics" platform--our former Republican governor hadn't reported some golf outings. This is the state that decided to investigate Joe the Plumber because of Obama clearly telling him he was going to redistribute the wealth. This is the state of Marc Dann and Eric McFadden, Strickland's sexually and ethically challenged appointees.

And what is the Democrats' solution for a recession? Let's spend our way to prosperity! How many of us would teach our own children that? Has it worked at your house? It won't work in the House of Representatives, either. It hasn't worked in past recessions, and it certainly didn't work during the 15 year Great Depression (1929-1945) when both Hoover and FDR violated all sorts of citizens' rights and stole money from our parents and grandparents with government take-overs. Our Governor was told this week by the state auditor that building Ohio's economy on one time stimulus money (pork) won't help--it will actually hurt us. He'll either have to have a massive tax increase, or decrease spending. Duh. He's a Democrat, so we sure know where this is going. The same direction as Kilroy and Pelosi, snug, secure and spending inside the beltway.

"In just 50 days, Congress has voted to spend about $1.2 trillion between the Stimulus and the Omnibus,” McConnell says. “To put that in perspective, that’s about $24 billion a day, or about $1 billion an hour—most of it borrowed. There’s simply no question: government spending has spun out of control." Mitch McConnell, R-Ky

Think of it. A billion an hour. Where are all those voices who were so worried about the cost of the war? They don't bat an eyelash at the thought of a trillion--most likely because they can't even imagine how much debt that is, or how our next challenge is not going to be unemployment, but inflation as our government will have to print more money to cover its debt.

I never wanted Obama as my president; but I truly never thought it would get so bad so fast. I thought we'd be full blown impoverished by his second term, not his second month.

Mayor Coleman's budget cuts

Tough times. Not so tough cuts. They will primarily affect programs aimed at the poor, in my opinion. All the better to plead for or demand new revenue. "It's for the [low income] children." It's a game they play. And if the program is eliminated, the employee can be shifted (if liked and a faithful in the party) or dropped (if not doing a good job or is not supportive of the party).

Mayor Michael B. Coleman proposed a 2009 budget yesterday that slashes services and lays off more city workers, he used the word sacrifice nine times and said "it is clear we're going to need new revenue. Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 15, 2008

Here's how it shakes out, although there were proposals in August and September also. Here are the cuts:

1. Community crime patrol funding, 54%
   
2. Neighborhood Pride Centers, 38%
   
3. Downtown Development, 60%
   
4. Neighborhood Health Centers, 18.5%
   
5. Alcohol & drug services eliminated
   
6. Public health reduced to $22.1 million from $26.3 in 2008
   
7. reduce waste collection to once every 2 weeks from once a week
   
8. less bulk (sofas, etc. at the curb or yard) collection
   
9. close 10-12 recreation centers
   
10. close 3 swimming pools
    
11. no funding for Jazz & Rib Fest or Festival Latino
    
12. reduce summer jobs for kids
    
13. after school programming cut 18%

Penny wise and pound foolish

I don't live there, so I don't know why Illinois is in such tough economic shape. Democrats? Unions? High taxes on new business? Young people leaving the state? Illegals slurping up the social services? Obama's policies when he was in the legislature upping the ante for health insurance? All the taxes going to Washington, DC then riding the rails back to Chicago?

Anyway, we never got over to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Dana-Thomas House, which ranks 114th on the list of the AIA’s America’s Favorite Architecture. We love FLW's architecture, but the buildings don't wear well, and are horribly expensive to renovate and maintain. Now it's on the chopping block with other historic sites and parks and is set to close December 1. Not sure how they'll keep it from deteriorating.

I looked at the Democratic House web site, but they sure aren't taking any responsibility. Not sure it's been updated since March. Then at the party site, I clicked on press releases, but it was under construction. Couldn't find much except links to other Dem states.

They're just like the Ohio Democrats who took over in 2006. Same message, lots of promises, but absolutely no progress except in voter fraud and scandals in the governor's staff, both of which went up.

"With your help, we can build on the remarkable Democratic successes in the 2006 elections and retain our majorities in the Illinois House of Representatives and Senate

"About once a year we have the joy of experiencing Chicago traffic when we drive to Mt. Morris from Lakeside (otherwise we have a peaceful drive through corn fields and wind farms coming up from the Champaign-Urbana area). It's never any different--always under construction, with one overpass where I just have to shut my eyes and not look at all the broken concrete (I'm not driving, btw). The tolls go up and up and up; the traffic is like a moving parking lot no matter what time of day we go through. But here's where some of the money is going, according to the Governor's web site.

In an effort to reduce congestion, cut down on emissions and invest in Illinois jobs, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today unveiled a new Illinois Tollway Improvement Plan which will include the introduction of Green Lanes and interchange construction. Building on the successes of the Tollway’s current Congestion-Relief Program, the second phase – Tomorrow’s Transportation Today – is a $1.8 billion project designed to continue congestion-relief efforts, improve the environment and enhance mobility across Northern Illinois.

New words for increased taxes: invest in jobs, green as a prefix to anything, and relief. Oops. Almost forgot spread the wealth around.

Fixing up the United Nations building

One thing we can do in the United States to improve skylines (visual pollution), meet energy regulations (green goals) and politics (Marxist doublespeak) is knock down the UN building instead of restoring and repairing it. The building (in New York) is aging--it's now about 60 years old--and although in Europe that wouldn't mean much, in the United States, it doesn't meet code. I visited it in 1954 or 55, I think, with a Church of the Brethren youth seminar group. That's back when the youth were going to save the world. Dag Hammarskjold was told he had won election to Secretary-General on April 1st, 1953, and his first reaction was it was an April Fool's joke because he didn't know he was a candidate. It was and still is a joke. But the joke is on us. The organization is worthless and is a hole into which pour money.

Fixing a 60 year old building to bring it up to current standards? Keep in mind by the time you have to pay off all the crooks, the cost overruns should double or triple this figure.

"The contract for construction management was awarded to Skanska USA Building Inc. in October 2007. Under the accelerated strategy, the entire project would be completed within five years, so that construction costs ($195.4 million), as well as the swing space cost estimates, would be reduced. This led ACABQ to recommend on 18 October the approval of the accelerated strategy and the appropriation of $992.8 million for the biennium 2008–2009 budget." UN Chronicle

The US contribution to the UN budget is 22%. "The US budget is determined by Congress after the president makes initial requests. The Bush administration, for example, requested $1.26 billion for mandatory contributions to the UN, UN agencies and other international organizations for the Fiscal Year 2007 (October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007). Included in this request was $422.7 million for the UN regular budget and $1.13 billion in peacekeeping dues." Fact sheet

4622

Dead tree or cyber winged budgets?

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post is not so thrilled that the 2009 budget is digital instead of paper--even if 480 trees were saved. Considering that I can't even access some of my own publications that were on the "disk" version of 1999, I wish the American public and future researchers good luck in accessing important documents that trendy lawmakers have decided need to get on the digital bandwagon. Let's hope there are always a few paper copies kept in secure libraries and archives.

"Honestly, I am still using the paper books, as is most of my staff," Tom Kahn, the staff director of the House Budget Committee, told me by e-mail. "Online is much harder to use. It makes the information less accessible and harder to ferret out. Frankly, it is no fun staring for hours at a computer screen to find obscure spend-out rates. You can't underline, can't make a note on a page, and who wants to read a computer in bed?"

I love being able to get snippets, or even whole chapters, on-line--like Ruth's article. But I don't want to give up the 3 newspapers I read everyday--in paper with my coffee. I particularly enjoy being able to get archived older articles--and I sure hope the digitizers can keep up with ways for us to read them. But when I have to read closely, I print it off. I hate trying to scroll across the page to figure out columns for years and amounts and quantities.

Thursday Thirteen

13 things we did when the budget got tight.

After six carefree years as DINKS (double income no kids), we went to one income in 1994 when my husband decided to go into business for himself. Although we were never profligate spenders and had lived on one income our first 18 years of married life, we had to learn all over to tighten our belts. If you need to go to one income so one parent can stay home with children, most of these tips will work for you too.

1. Put all credit cards except one in the drawer--and it was only for emergencies. Cash only for day to day expenses.

2. Ate out once a month instead of once a week.

3. Stopped going into retail stores or the mall, "just to look."

4. Threw out all retail ads and circulars that came to the house. The word "SALE" actually is a trick word meaning "debt."

5. Bought no new clothes.

6. Reduced our utilities--water, electricity, gas, and phone.

7. As part of the buy-out, we got a rather old company car and used it as our second car for a year so we wouldn‘t have car payments.

8. Borrowed a computer for the business; used a small room in the house for an office. I was "staff" and worked when I got home from my job. He bought no equipment until he made some money--he went to the drug store to copy things, and Kinkos to use the fax. After the first year we bought a copier, fax and our own computer. He decided against learning CAD at his age so that was outsourced.

9. Took a five year buy-out of his stock in his former firm. That provided some income and reduced the taxes.

10. Made no major repairs on the house, or decorating, or new furniture.

11. Maintained my regular contribution to my 403-b at work.

12. Maintained our church tithe, but discontinued all other donations.

13. Gave up his downtown Y membership and joined an aerobics class at our suburban church (which he still does).

After two years, and he had established his practice, it was business as usual.


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