Obama starts slashing

[audtatious]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110213/pl_ ... dget_obama

Obama budget to cut deficit by $1.1 trillion

[bigbadberry3]

How much do you want to be slashed overnight (10 years XD )?

[audtatious]

How much do you think should be cut? How will the 1.1 trillion help and how much do you perceive that it is lowering our deficit?

Realize, his cuts come out to 1.1 trillion over 10 years, or 110 billion per year. They also do not take effect until after the next Presidential election. Per a "Senior Democrat" to the WSJ the expected deficit for this year will be 1.6 trillion which is higher than the 1.48 trillion the CBO estimated. That's a 120B increase in this year alone if that were true.

His "cuts" are a joke, just like the initial 100B a year the GOP promised to propose. Medicare, Medicaid, SS, Unemployment, and other entitlement programs need to get cut as well as military spending. Anything else is nothing but BS.

Maybe we should look at Canada and see what they did to get their spending (in relation to GDP) under better control? None of this is going to be fixed overnight but it has to start somewhere.

[bigbadberry3]

Would you have the same attitude towards just another 1.1 trillion if Obama increased it instead?

[audtatious]

I added more content to my post....sorry

Why would I think adding another 1.1 trillion would help if I thought cutting 1.1 trillion was a joke?

[96Qowner]

LOL! ... "slashing" ... *choke*

I blew coffee out my nose.

Heheh ... "slashing" ... good one.

[audtatious]

^^^ pretty much what I did when I read it.

[stebo0728]

Hard to "slash" with "scalpel" isnt it?

[audtatious]

What scalpel? More like a ultra-cheap plastic butter knife that breaks with any pressure.

[stebo0728]

But Obama said he had a scalpel, he wouldnt mislead us about that would he? We have to believe he has a scalpel hidden somewhere in his overcoat, he's just waiting for the right time to use it right?

[96Qowner]

How can you not laugh big hearty guffaws at this guy, PrezBo? Check it out - does he even know where to find a map to even look for a clue?

Even with the supposed "cuts" in Obama's budget, here's what the spending increases in some federal bureaucracies will look like:

· 112 percent more spending for the Department of Agriculture;

· 100 percent more spending for the Department of Education;

· 154 percent more spending for the Department of Energy;

· 110 percent more spending for the Department of Health and Human Services;

· 175 percent more spending for the Department of Labor; and

· 82 percent for the Department of Transportation.

Still not getting the picture? Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute takes a look at Obama's budget compared to 2008 ...

· Total federal spending jumped from $2.98 trillion in 2008 to $3.82 trillion in 2011. Obama's budget has outlays at $3.73 trillion in 2012, but that's still up 25 percent from 2008. Spending in 2011 is the highest share of GDP since WWII at 25.3 percent.

· Non-defense discretionary spending jumped from $522 billion in 2008 to $655 billion in 2011. Spending is supposed to fall to $611 billion in 2012, but that's still up 17 percent from 2008.

· Defense spending jumped from $612 billion in 2008 to $761 billion in 2011. Spending is supposed to fall to $730 billion in 2012, but that's still up 19 percent from 2008.

· Entitlement spending jumped from $1.59 trillion in 2008 to $2.19 trillion in 2011. The budget has entitlement spending at $2.14 trillion in 2012, which is up a huge 35 percent from 2008.

You would think that considering the elections of 2010, PrezBo would have changed his budget to fall more in line with the demands of America ..... you would be wrong.

http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2011/02/ob ... -bust.html

Seriously??????? Is his "budget" a joke, maybe?

[stebo0728]

What happened to going back to 2008 spending levels? Any increase above 0% is NOT examplatory of "roll back". Maybe Walmart executives should be writing this budget.

[AppleBonker]

Interesting visualization:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/ne ... ex.html?hp

[IBCoupe]

The Administration is saying that this is a proposal to get the ball rolling on a bipartisan plan, and I tend to buy that explanation.

Had they come out with the drastic cuts that his commission suggested, the next two years would have been spent roasting the President, rather than fixing the budget.

[heliochrome85]

Had they come out with the drastic cuts that his commission suggested, the next two years would have been spent roasting the President, rather than fixing the budget.

as if that isnt going to be the exact outcome anyways.

[audtatious]

Somebody needs to step up, be it Dem or Rep. Yes, I would give a Dem their due if they stepped to the plate and took an honest swing. If Obama had stepped up I would be nodding my head in agreement. What he proposed is laughable. The cuts the Reps have proposed is not much better.

[stebo0728]

Nobody has the balls to give any drastic cuts to social programs, Presbo said it himself, he was cutting SOME but he even hated having to do that, but between social programs and defense, thats where most of our money goes. I say cut both, but we still need to be able to sleep at night, if its in a cardboard box so be it, but as long as the rooskies arent invading

[Eikon]

The only thing he's talked about that I fully support him on is the idea of high-speed rail investment. We need it! We need to catch up with the rest of the world in that area. Plus, it would be a great way to create jobs and truly put money into the economy. The problem is that since it would be a government program it would be rife with waste and corruption and a complete mess to carry out.

[stebo0728]

The only thing he's talked about that I fully support him on is the idea of high-speed rail investment. We need it! We need to catch up with the rest of the world in that area. Plus, it would be a great way to create jobs and truly put money into the economy. The problem is that since it would be a government program it would be rife with waste and corruption and a complete mess to carry out.

High speed rail is a joke, europe's geography lends to the success of high speed rail there. Here in america, its not a good fit, it would not be used nearly as much as some claim, and it would be a huge front-end cost at time when we dont really need to be forking out excess capital.

[stebo0728]

Or put much simpler, if high speed rail was all some crack it up to be here, the private sector would have already accomplished it

[Eikon]

How does Europe's geography differ from the US in a way that would impact the success of high speed rail? I'm just curious to know what your thinking is behind this.. is it due to concentration of the population in smaller areas? Or actual geography.. like physical features of the land?

[IBCoupe]

Or put much simpler, if high speed rail was all some crack it up to be here, the private sector would have already accomplished it

Whose direct interest would it have been in to build, Stebo? Railways are common goods. There's no private entity going to spontaneously build them.

"Or put much simpler, if lighthouses were all some crack them up to be here, the private sector would have already accomplished it."

It's in everybody's individual interest to HAVE major improvements to our railway systems, but it's in nobody's individual interest to take on the cost of getting them.

[Eikon]

If I were the mayor of a small city located between two large cities, I would seriously consider trying to pony up funds to help get a project off the ground. Imagine the rather wealthy set of workers who would love to ride a train 75 miles to work instead of driving 20 miles. Outside of this, I can't see any firms who would want to take on the cost of building high speed rail. Even if granted eminent domain by local governments, the cost of acquiring the land would be very high.

But as IBCoupe says, it is in the interest of everyone to make significant upgrades to mass transit across our country. As the cost of oil rises, we must find alternatives to help reduce the demand and save everyone money. We may not think the cost of high speed rail makes sense at $3.00 per gallon gas prices, but wait a year or two to see what happens to everyone's opinion at $6.00 per gallon.

I would love to commute on high speed rail! Imagine the quality of life you could have.. living in a nice rural area with much lower land prices, less crime, fresh air, etc.. Being able to cover 60 to 100 miles in 30 minutes or less means you could live a good distance from a major city, but still work in that city without having to deal with the traffic issues. Plus, the productivity of each worker would increase.. imagine being able to go through all your email on the way into work and then being able to get started on regular tasks as soon as you walk into the office.

I could have lived in Green Bay or Madison and work in Milwaukee or Chicago. I could live in Ravenna, Ohio (a little town in rural NE Ohio) and work in Cleveland or Pittsburgh or even Columbus. A person could live in rural New Jersey (not that much of NJ is rural), and work in Baltimore.

[96Qowner]

I think individual jet packs or micro planes would be far better than high speed rail. Rail is so 20th Century. Just imagine being able to just take off from your own yard - it'd be great. Let's do it. Let's invest in private air travel. Think of all the money we could save!

[Eikon]

I'm down with personal air travel as long as it can be made safe. For some reason people in this country think that a driver's license and the opportunity to drive a car is a "RIGHT".... As a result we get a ton of people who should not be doing it. Personal air travel would be great, but I refuse to consider it if the average person can do it as well.

[heliochrome85]

The only thing he's talked about that I fully support him on is the idea of high-speed rail investment. We need it! We need to catch up with the rest of the world in that area. Plus, it would be a great way to create jobs and truly put money into the economy. The problem is that since it would be a government program it would be rife with waste and corruption and a complete mess to carry out.

High speed rail is a joke, europe's geography lends to the success of high speed rail there. Here in america, its not a good fit, it would not be used nearly as much as some claim, and it would be a huge front-end cost at time when we dont really need to be forking out excess capital.

QFT

a stebo post no less.

mark those calendars. the champ got one right

[heliochrome85]

I'm down with personal air travel as long as it can be made safe. For some reason people in this country think that a driver's license and the opportunity to drive a car is a "RIGHT".... As a result we get a ton of people who should not be doing it. Personal air travel would be great, but I refuse to consider it if the average person can do it as well.

congestion of the skies is pretty serious as it stands. let alone thousands of potential al qaeda vehicles. im down with the way its currently structured if its all the same to you.

[stebo0728]

Im really down with the whole automated traffic idea, MIT is coming along way with this. We should have self driving cars within the next decade, possibly sooner. Traffic will be nill when cars can drive along at 80, 10 inches apart, controlled by silicone (not titties mind you) it'll be nice, and by then they should be electric cars. Win - Win.

EDIT - actually itll probably be graphene controlling them, as silicone's days as transistor material are numbered

[heliochrome85]

Im really down with the whole automated traffic idea, MIT is coming along way with this. We should have self driving cars within the next decade, possibly sooner. Traffic will be nill when cars can drive along at 80, 10 inches apart, controlled by silicone (not titties mind you) it'll be nice, and by then they should be electric cars. Win - Win.

cant powerslide a self driving car. then again, it frees one for other activities while driving

[stebo0728]

There are other kinds of powerslides you can do in your free-time

Plus you can still drag the 'ol Z out to the track still