—————
—————————-
This is Part 2 in a series. To read Part 1 see http://thedrpete.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/what-must-be-said-and-americans-must-understand-part-1-in-a-series/
—————————
If you consider yourself a sensible and caring and thinking person, and you’re persuaded by the talk coming from Washington and news media about the so-called “fiscal cliff” and the “debt-ceiling”, you might want to factor into the equations just some of the built-in-intentional silly-speak.
Congress and the President use something called “baseline budgeting” and it’s nothing like what you use. Built in to each budget line item from year-to-year is an automatic 8-ish percent increase. So when any of them says, “We’re proposing a 5% cut in X”, you should hear, “They’re proposing a 3+% increase in X.” No one — not a sole soul — has proposed a real-world cut in anything.
Further, the silly-speak department includes something called “static budgeting”. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is not only non-partisan, but dumber than a rock . . . by law. When the CBO scores — projects the money outcome of any proposed bill, it must again, by law — ignore reality and assume that no one will change behavior based on the new law. So, for example, if the bill included raising your income tax rate from, say, 15% to, say, 95%, the CBO calculates based on your working just as hard and just as many hours. Would you?
In the real world, the Treasury will receive precisely the same amount of money from people taxed at 0% as if taxed at 100%. Zero.
So, if you have your thinking cap on, you realize that no one is planning to either raise revenues or cut spending, and we’re paying these clowns for this.
—————————
This series is intended to dispense and disperse information. I grant to anyone and everyone right to republish without attribution anything and everything herein.
And, as has become all too regrettably common lately, Jellyfish Boehner caved yet again today.
Without one minute of anything even remotely resembling negotiation.
I want to sell him my house. It’s a 2800 sq.ft. 2-story that’s 14 years old. It’s located in a canyon suburb in north LA County. I think I can get him to pay $10 Billion for it.
I’ll settle for $12 Billion.
I infer, BrianR, that Speaker Boehner, et al, are at best ambivalent about cutting actual spending. Almost all in congress are addicted to spending . . . others’ money.
The U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, but I think that there are but a single handful of congressmen and, maybe, three senators who understand even the basics of the document and its role.
The challenge here is to have way more Americans understand this.
Unquestionably. If the sheeple stand quietly by while the country goes down the drain, we all end up drowning.
I’ve never been a big fan of Boehner, but he’s far from being the only problem. We’re a nation of addicts with no one possessing the necessary stomach to step in and perform an intervention. While we have many in Congress, these days, who proudly profess themselves to be conservatives, they fail to understand that it takes much more than just throwing around a few quotes from Ronald Reagan for people to recognize one as being a true conservative. We need those of sufficient courage to do what many know ‘must’ be done and to be willing to put the future of our country above their own political ‘careers’. I fear I am asking for the impossible. So I will close by saying it was a good run while it lasted. And in the end not enough of us cared enough to keep it going. Am I wrong, Doc?
No, Dan, you’re NOT wrong. I’ve been challenged here to try to increase the population of people who understand and, thus, care enough.
Great lesson, DrPete! Let’s buy ad space and print that on every piece of mass transportation we can find. Give people something to think about during their morning and evening commutes.
Geeeez, leave it to CW. What a great idea!! For that medium I’ll shorten the message even more.
Muchos gracias, CW.
Pingback: What must be said and Americans must understand (Part 3) | thedrpete
Pingback: What must be said and Americans must understand (Part 4) | thedrpete
Pingback: What must be said and Americans must understand (Part 5) | thedrpete
Pingback: What must be said and Americans must understand (Part 6) | thedrpete