The Budget Scalpel Is A Little Too Delicate

The good news is that the President has announced budget cuts. The bad news is that he’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes. The AP reports that Obama asked Congress to cut $17 billion in the next budget year. It sounds like a lot of money until you put this in perspective—this is a $17 billion cut from a $3.6 trillion budget. That’s a savings of 0.47%. Assume your family’s spending budget is $36,000 a year and you want to cut back to save a little extra. On the same scale as this cut you would save $170.

Since Congress controls the purse strings and not the President, there is no guarantee that his proposal will even be accepted. After all, there are a lot of favored programs that will be eliminated or trimmed and a lot of congressional delegates that don’t want to see these get touched. In fact, the administration already knows that some of the proposals will be rejected. No matter what the outcome of this proposal, Obama will get and take the credit for tightening belts in difficult times.

This message hides the fact that the original 2010 budget proposal is a 25% increase over the previous year.

Did the administration hear the message from the Tea Parties? Is this an attempt to placate? I find it all show and no substance. It’s too little and very disingenuous.