U.S. Federal Budget - Part II, FY2011 Budget

We know that deadlines are oft times missed in the budgetary process but nothing like what we are going through now – we are at the end of March and still no budget for fiscal year 2011 when fast approaching are various deadlines for the fiscal year 2012 budget.  Why is this going on?  Why didn’t the Democrats pass a budget when they controlled both the House and Senate as well as the Presidency.  According to Claire McCaskill (D-MO), "...the budget wasn't passed because we had a hard time getting cooperation" hinting it was the Republicans, but the truth is they couldn't get many of their own to cooperate because they knew if they voted for another big spending piece of legislation that took effect October 1st, they would have no chance of getting re-elected - they were right.  They could have passed anything they wanted (we watched them do just that with Stimulus, Omnibus, Obama-care and Finance Reform, all HUGE bills, unread by anyone, all costing the U.S. taxpayer hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars) and they did but they knew we weren't going to take any more. 

Looking at the FY2011 Budget above and it $3.84 Trillion in overall spending and its $1.27 Trillion in additional debt, I think we all know why – they were afraid.  They were afraid for their cushy jobs, their titles, their power.  Yes, the American public was then and is now, finally starting to wake up and understand that this representative republic still takes their active participation to make it work.  They are relearning the fact that most politicians left unattended will do what’s good for themselves more often then not.  They are finding that many of our politicians are not in Washington D.C. for public service but rather for their own pocketbook and their own power, at the expense of the public and country they are suppose to serve and represent.  As Mitch McConnel (R-KY) said, "we are where we are because the Democrats abdicated their responsibility to keep the government funded through this year, that is why we are where we are." 

WE ARE TIRED OF HAVING OUR SERVANTS DICTATE HOW WE LIVE!

Now the Tea Party Republicans who told us they would take $100 Billion from the budget have backed off to $61 billion and may go lower for some negotiated settlement on this Continuing Resolution (CR), we’ll see. The Democrats started this party with ZERO cuts to the budget, nothing, not a dime.  So far during this whole process the Democrats have cried and told us that even taking ONE Dollar would be a catastrophe.  This is all Bush’s fault he spent too much (Bush and Congress did).  If we underfund or stop funding any program we will kill people – the disgusting diatribe of what reduced spending would do without any regard for the national debt is repulsive.  But they did it time and time again unabashedly and without any question from the national media.

But the arrogance of many of our politicians in both parties, to basically go along as if there is no problem is disheartening.  The sad truth is WE HAVE A SPENDING PROBLEM NOT A REVENUE PROBLEM.

But our politicians play around and tell us that it is a revenue problem and point fingers at each other, and at corporations who take advantage of the very loopholes the politicians put in place for them.  They will point at any one but themselves.  The reality is that we are where we are because our elected politicians want it that way.  There is no one else in our country that can spend the money other then by laws passed by those very politicians.  There is no one else that can make the laws, loopholes, benefits, etc. for those companies then our elected politicians.  This is their doing.  It is NOT your fault – it is NOT some corporations fault – it is NOT even some lobbyists fault – nor anyone else – ONLY our elected politicians can make the laws to spend the money the way they do – so do NOT buy into their diatribe of blame and some non-existent class warfare.  The only blame that can be placed is on each and every politician who votes for some program or law that spends more money then we bring in revenue. 

The chart below shows you our historical surpluses and deficits and today they are the worst since WWII which were already pretty high from the excessive spending that was implemented and that failed to get us out of the last major economic downturn in our nations history (remember those were 1930’s dollars, worth a lot more then our dollars today) leading up to the war.  Obviously, WWII spending was necessary but look at 1946, 1947 and especially 1948.  The Federal Government after the war cut out many of the offices and bureaucracies installed in the government to fight the war while also making substantial cuts in their spending, cut income taxes and all this allowed the economy to grow – and it did in a big way. 

Do some research and look at Japan in the 1990’s and today, see what their excessive government spending has done when their economy faltered – Japan leads the world in debt (The U.S. is second).  Check out Greece and what their continued excessive government spending has done for them.  No economy has spent their way out of this type of problem.  What is it that Churchill said "...spending your way out of debt is like being in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by the handle."  We couldn’t do it in the “great depression” and we certainly can’t do it with this recession either.  In fact our worst downturn actually happened after WWI but you don’t hear much about it, why?  It took place at the end of the excessive spending and corrupt changes to our Constitution (adoption of 17^th Amendment – Congress turning over their responsibility for our currency to a private company, the Federal Reserve) that took place under President Wilson.  But instead of more spending his successor severely cut taxes, cut government spending in half and the U.S. economy roared back creating the single greatest advancement of the working man in the history of the world.

As we go further into this debate for another CR and finally the over due adoption of the 2011 budget and on to the 2012 budget, we have to support those politicians that want to stop the spending in Washington D.C.  Stay in tune with what is going on and hold your State and Federal politicians accountable for how they vote and let them know you are watching.  That’s the only way we can cut our excessive federal spending, reduce our deficit and allow the economy to grow and put Americans back to work.  Hopefully, the Tea Party Republicans will get back to the cuts they promised us during the election and we keep the pressure on those who won’t with our vote.