Monday, February 14, 2011

Dueling Budgets

Earlier this Week, US Republicans unveiled their budget plan which is projected to cut $61 billion off this year's budget. Their proposed cuts include limiting or ending funding to the Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Obama this morning has unveiled his own budget which would cut $1.1 trillion over the next 10 years, or ~$110 billion per year. Cuts in this plan come from placing a spending freeze on domestic projects. Unfortunately, even this plan falls short of the $4 trillion in domestic cuts that would be needed to rectify the deficit.

Neither plan addresses the three biggest contributors to the US budget: Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security, and Defense spending. However the lesser of the two evils would have to be Obama's plan. The republicans' is filled with impulsive reactions to programs that would actually save money if they were left alone.

Other Updates:
-Iran protests began earlier today as young university students met riot police in the streets. Continuity is not assured but hopeful. The US State Dept has launched a twitter account in Farsi in order to show support for the protesters.
-Protests in Yemen and Algeria are still going on but only Algeria seems to be picking up steam. Al Jazeera is now giving them equal time as Egypt's aftermath.
-The Grammys are going on. Maybe. I'm actively trying not to pay attention.
-Vlad Putin is still a badass.

23 comments:

  1. hahah, love the picture. Bit of political humor is always good.

    As far as the deficit, I think the cuts are going to have to come out of the so called "non-discretionary spending". You simply can't cut enough from the discretionary spending to have enough impact on the deficit. Motions like these plans are largely political maneuvers imo.

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  2. Cut the defense budget back to simple salary for current military employees (no raises either) and nothing else for 1 year. That'll get half way there I bet.

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  3. If we just took away our defense funding we would be fine. But then all these companies would go up in smoke. In come the lobbyist.

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  4. cut back defense funding and privatize 95% of govt jobs and we will be fine. Govt job pensions and overstaffing sucks this country dry.

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  5. excellent last picture of barak! :P

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  6. Haha really like the picture.

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  7. Dude, I'm sorry that this isn't related to this post, but I love that fish thing on the side of your blog. Where did you get that?

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  8. Cutting education and public broadcasting would be disasterous.

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  9. lol,
    no offense but, USA is having to much problems right now, especially with the budget.
    I live in a Small country thus the amount of needed to cut back was 20-30x smaller,and got us back to our feet sooner :D

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  10. I honestly don't think there is such an easy "cut X from Y and we'll be fine" plan. The current situation is way too complex to solve like that.

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  11. OBAMA hahahhaha like!!

    followeed

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  12. love the pic :P

    gotta admit these budgeting issues come form politicians taking more money than they deserve.. .especially when over half of them don't make a sound the entire political semester

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  13. if its needed money the best way to get it is just by not spending it.. however the people who are affected by this, didnt contribute to the state we're in, thats the sad truth

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  14. And that's why you don't mess with the Russian Mafia.
    Didn't you see "Eastern Promises", Obama?

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  15. Cuts for education? What the hell are they thinking.. Bill Gates was recently on Charlie Rose (last week) talking about how broken the education system is in America. You should check it out!

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  16. lmao awesome picture... putin is the man.

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  17. Nice picture dude haha. great stuff man

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