Budget Woes

Nothing stirs up the crowd like budget talk. All right, that's facetious, but it's something which ought to draw more attention than it does. Especially as we are facing troubling deficits on the federal level for well into the future.

President Barack Obama has proposed many and varied cuts in areas one would wonder why there should be any government involvement at all. He has proposed cuts of $5 million in grants which would have gone to worsted wool manufacturers; why were they supported by Washington in the first place? Monies which would have paid for a 'water musical festival' are on the block; such things should never be considered by government. And these are surely only the tips of the icebergs.

It is as though the feds are trying to surgically refine the budget. That may or may not be possible; entrenched bureaucracies may be the hardest to dethrone even if they are mundane, repetitive, or outdated. For example, a bigger ticket budget item slated for a cut is the C-17 cargo plane. Even the Department of Defense, not exactly known for its spending acumen, said in 2007 that it didn't want any more them. It had enough. But due to political pressures Congress still insisted it order more and kept in budget money for them. The President is suggesting to cut them from the 2011 budget and beyond to the tune of a $2.5 billion savings over ten years. But will the lawmakers actually do it?

There's really only way to cut spending efficiently: across the board and at every level. Go to each and every agency and say: you lose ten percent next year. Period. Find a way to do it. Will it be tough? Tough. Do it. Everyone has inefficiencies, redundancies, and outmoded practices which if eliminated ought to save a bit of cash.

Like that will happen. There's no reason that, after more than 200 years, Congress will begin acting wisely anytime soon.