Posted on 10/16/2013 2:05:28 PM PDT by dontreadthis
Joseph J. Dioguardi is a former member of Congress from New York and Certified Public Accountant. Dioguardi in his book “Unaccountable Congress: It Doesn’t Add Up” lists the top twelve gimmicks Congress uses to hide the true costs of government from the people. These gimmicks have been used for decades by both Republican and Democrat administrations, Congresses under both parties and government agencies.
The idea behind these gimmicks is to “[K]eep Americans in the dark (or – I should say – in the red!), writes, Dioguardi.
Dioguardi calls this “plastic budgeting”. As David A. Stockman, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Ronald Reagan, stated, “As the fiscal crisis has worsened and the political conflict intensified we have increasingly resorted to squaring the circle with accounting gimmicks, evasions, half-truths and downright dishonesty in our budget numbers, debate and advocacy. Indeed, if the Securities and Exchange Commission had jurisdiction over the executive and legislative branches, many of us would be in jail.”
Fast forward to the 2013 “fiscal crisis” and “political conflict” in Washington, D.C. since October 1st.
Dioguardi characterizes the government budget as, “[F]ar from rock solid. It is metaphorically, plastic budgeting, approved by people with little plastic cards and elastic standards of fiscal integrity.” He lists the following “dirty dozen” methods of “budget chicanery developed over the years.” The following are taken from Chapter 2 of Dioguardi’s book. Readers can point to current examples of each gimmick being used today by the President and Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at watchdogwire.com ...
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
Budget Enforcement Act of 1990.
Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
Budget Control Act of 2011.
Yep, one more “act” ought to do it.
Call it the “Kick the Can Down the Road Act of 2014”
.... LOL .... the fact that it is this easy to identify the "TWELVE DEFICIT GIMMICKS" is absolutely amazing to me!!!!
.... Well .... especially since the identified gimmicks fool the amazingly brilliant GOPsters every single time they are used!!!!
Obama: “Just remember I was against raising the debt ceiling before I was for it. Formerly it was irresponsible and a burden on our kids, and all the boomers were going to start retiring. Now all that doesn’t matter because it’s vital we as a country pay our bills.”
Press: “What changed?”
Obama: “Now I’M the President.”
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