Let the Budget Battles Begin

Canada Free Press ^ | 03/22/15 | Alan Caruba

[Sean_Anthony]

Proposed budget represents a serious effort to enact reforms that are long overdue. These and other measures are needed to encourage economic growth, the heart's blood of the nation

The announcement of a new fiscal budget for the U.S. government always sets the stage for struggles between the spenders and those trying to put some limits on the spending. The spenders usually win because politicians—particularly progressive ones—love to tap the national treasury in order to reward their supporters.

As the Speaker of the House John Boehner said on the occasion of the March 17 announcement, “For 53 of the last 60 years, the federal government has spent more than it has taken in. It is unacceptable.” Not so unacceptable that one Congress after another has not seen fit to ignore common sense and fiscal prudence.

The sheer enormity of the budget tends to overwhelm and I suspect that most voters pay little attention to it and the issues it represents except to want assurances that their benefit check arrives. Rarely mentioned or largely unknown is the size of the nation’s unfunded liabilities, long term obligations in Medicare and Social Security. In 2014 they reached nearly $49 trillion with a “T”.

[eyeamok]

nation’s unfunded liabilities,

You mean Slave Contracts on Future Generations right?

[mac_truck]

Fours years ago everyone on the right was embracing "cut cap & balance" legislation.

Today...now that the GOP has the majority...not so much.

[Hugin]

Battles? The GOP-e surrendered when they threw away their only weapon immediately after the election by announcing they won’t allow a “shutdown”. Anything they do now is just a show for the rubes.

[upchuck]

The Scottish Jurist and Historian Sir Alexander Fraser Tytler published a collection of lectures in 1801. He advanced a theory of democracy based on historical observation:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can exist only until voters discover that they can vote themselves largesses from the public treasury. From that time on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”

200+ years ago!

[Scooter100]

Rumor on the hill has it that John Boehner tried to sabotage the Budget Committee last week in the 11th hour of their deliberations and lost. Tom Price, Budget Committee Chair, rallied his committee and ended up beating Boehner’s feeble attempt to kill their proposals. Will be interesting to see how the Price vs Boehner relationship will play out on Tuesday as the Budget is debated in the House. Will Boehner rally his Dems to kill it? Stay tuned.