Budget Cuts, Smudget Cuts
Our President has now released his budget proposal for the fiscal year of 2007. According to the story, the budget is a proposed $2.77 Trillion (Yes, that is a "T"). One of the actions of this budget is to trim back increases in existing line items. In Washington, this is called a "budget cut".
Allow me again to define "budget cut" in Washington terms; a reduction in the rate of growth of an existing line item of a budget.
An example would be as follows. Let us suppose that your household is Washington, D.C., and one of your line items on your budget is "entertainment". This is the money that you set aside to eat at restaurants, go to the movies, bowling, etc. You have other line items in your budget that are necessary for the existence of your house. "Entertainment" is a line item that has been in your budget for years, and your constituency, which is your family, has come to expect the benefits of "entertainment". In other words, they feel "entitled" to entertainment.
Let us further suppose that your spending is in line, year after year, with your revenues. In other words, you have a balanced budget, taking in no more that you spend. Let us further suppose that you have a cost of living increase of 4% on average; therefore, all things being equal, all line items on your budget have a 4% spending increase annually.
But this year, you must replace your roof. The normal budget for home maintenance will be short the necessary funds to replace the roof. To maintain a balanced budget, you must trim in another area. You determine that if you increase your spending in entertainment by 2% instead of 4%, then you can increase your home maintenance line item to cover the cost of roof replacement.
You have just cut your budget for entertainment.
So what do you do. If you were Washington, D.C., you would borrow the money to repair the roof from someone outside your home. In other words, you would create a deficit, so that the entitlement of entertainment for your family would meet the expected rate of growth.
If your children were Democrats, and most likely Republicans as well, they would be screaming about how disenfranchised they were by the "cut" in their entitlement, how the rich parents are just getting richer, and how discrimination against children is still rampant in your home.
And so it is in Washington. What would it be called if the rate of growth was negative? Maybe revolution.
Allow me again to define "budget cut" in Washington terms; a reduction in the rate of growth of an existing line item of a budget.
An example would be as follows. Let us suppose that your household is Washington, D.C., and one of your line items on your budget is "entertainment". This is the money that you set aside to eat at restaurants, go to the movies, bowling, etc. You have other line items in your budget that are necessary for the existence of your house. "Entertainment" is a line item that has been in your budget for years, and your constituency, which is your family, has come to expect the benefits of "entertainment". In other words, they feel "entitled" to entertainment.
Let us further suppose that your spending is in line, year after year, with your revenues. In other words, you have a balanced budget, taking in no more that you spend. Let us further suppose that you have a cost of living increase of 4% on average; therefore, all things being equal, all line items on your budget have a 4% spending increase annually.
But this year, you must replace your roof. The normal budget for home maintenance will be short the necessary funds to replace the roof. To maintain a balanced budget, you must trim in another area. You determine that if you increase your spending in entertainment by 2% instead of 4%, then you can increase your home maintenance line item to cover the cost of roof replacement.
You have just cut your budget for entertainment.
So what do you do. If you were Washington, D.C., you would borrow the money to repair the roof from someone outside your home. In other words, you would create a deficit, so that the entitlement of entertainment for your family would meet the expected rate of growth.
If your children were Democrats, and most likely Republicans as well, they would be screaming about how disenfranchised they were by the "cut" in their entitlement, how the rich parents are just getting richer, and how discrimination against children is still rampant in your home.
And so it is in Washington. What would it be called if the rate of growth was negative? Maybe revolution.
posted by Badbeans | 4:34 PM
1 Comments:
A very good example in every day terms that most people (I hope) can understand.
The RHINO's in Washington might as well be called liberals when it comes to budget cuts and maintaining the status quo with the entitlements.
I'm afraid the only revolution that Washington will ever see from the American people will be from the ones who one day get thier entitlements taken away from them by real Conservative heros that really try to do what's best for the country.
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