Are You Kidding Me?
Monday, February 11 2013
Many 2011 federal budget cuts had little real-world effect
In April 2011, Washington announced what they touted as “the largest annual spending cut in our history.” Both parties had agreed to cut $37.8 billion, but it was all an illusion. Most of the $37.8 billion in cuts was composed of accounting gimmicks that ‘cut’ programs that had already been canceled or never existed in the first place. These gimmicks accounted for at least $17.4 billion of the supposed $37.8 billion in cuts.
The article lists numerous examples of the gimmicks, but my personal favorite was a $6 billion cut at the Census Bureau. Census Bureau officials said that in 2011 they did not need the more than $6 billion they had spent in 2010. Yet that $6 billion was still considered a ‘cut’ even though there was obviously no census planned for 2011 since the census is only taken every ten years.
Washington is only making it appear that they are working to solve our fiscal problems. They know what they are doing, but don’t seem too concerned. “Many of the cuts we put in were smoke and mirrors,” said Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.). Politics is all about perception, and for the most part, as long as it looks like Washington is making progress the American public will be satisfied. We cannot afford to be complacent any longer; it is up to us to research and fact check what politicians say. We cannot accept political rhetoric at face value because we end up with deceptive falsehoods like “the largest annual spending cut in our history.”
Same old nonsense
What a surprise? The $85 billion ($44 billion thru end of fiscal year 2013 in September) is really only cuts to the INCREASES in spending. None of the current spending is being ‘cut’. Even so,$85 billion of a $3.6 trillion dollar budget is — wait for it — 2.4%! Is the world really gonna end if we cut 2.4% from this bloated monster? The waste and fraud comes to more than that.