Wednesday, July 27, 2011

The Debt limit crisis is mostly smoke & mirrors

Some things to keep in mind as the posturing goes on.
1. All the numbers are for 10 year savings. Which means they are malarkey. Even if this year's Congress cuts something down, next year's Congress can push it right back up where it used to be. And if the cut was to a juicy piece of pork, you can bet it will be added back in next year. Plus, predictions of the Federal budget for the next ten years cannot take into account wars, economic depressions, and technological change. In the last ten years we had 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Prius, fracking, and Great Depression 2.0. What bad news lies in wait for us in the next ten years? The debate would be more honest if we kept the projections to just next year.
2. The budget cuts are likely to be fake cuts. A real cut occurs when the agency gets less money than it got last year. A fake cut occurs when the agency gets less money than it asked for. Our well educated and un biased newsies cannot tell the difference between a fake cut and a real cut.

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