Tuesday, November 22, 2011
From CNN:
What's Next After "Super Committee" Failure?
From FoxNews:
Obaa to Veto Any Attempt to Roll Back Automatic Cuts...
Ok, in the spirit of unbias blogging, I have included links to stories from the left and the right. By now, we all know that the super committee failed to reach an agreement regarding the additional $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. While this is no surprise to many of us, it does underscore the basic issue we have within our government, partisan bickering. Others have said that the parties act a checks and balances on each other, and to certain degree I concede this point. However, the checks and balance theory is shaken when we consider that the Democratic party controlled all three facets of our elected leadership (White House, Senate, and House) only a few years ago. During that time, they (the trifecta of our government) couldn't pass a single piece of budget legislation. Who is to blame for that short coming? I'm sure there are the hard-line Democrats who will blame the Republicans or George W. Bush, and that is fine. That is what makes our country superb. We can blame others for our own shortcomings. This does not, however, exempt the Republicans or Bush from their shortcomings and failures as lawmakers.
Now, with our Congressional leadership throwing in the towel (for now) we are still faced with a mounting debt crisis, out of control spending, continued unemployment, not to mention world issues that will impact us as a nation. The stock market reacted to the impending failure of the super committee in a less than favorable way, with the Dow dropping nearly 300 points. To the OWS campers, this should make you happy, but remember, there are middle and lower class employees who have a vested interest (not to mention retirement) in the success of the companies trading on Wall Street who were negatively impacted with that drop, so ease off the little people.
Many have said (including SecDef Panetta) that these "automatic cuts" (sequestration) will be the death of America, both in terms of defense and domestic spending. I, for one, am not drinking that Kool-Aid. Firstly, these cuts will not take effect until 2013, which gives our government another 13 months or so to fix their oopsy-poodle (yes, I just said that). Secondly, I suspect there will be an attempt by both parties to nullify these cuts if an agreement cannot be reached. The President has stated he will veto any attempt to do so, for which I applaud him. I'm not a huge fan of the current President, but on this issue, he should stick to his guns. Many in the Republican party have criticized him for his "lack of leadership" on this issue, but the super committee was a Congressional baby. He had nothing to do with it, and I again applaud him for letting Congress hang itself. Thirdly, the $1.2 trillion in cuts are to come out of a 10 yr span. Ladies and gentlemen, while $1.2 trillion sounds like an absurd amount of money, please realize that in the span of those cuts, (if we spend no more than we spent in 2010) will equal $35.5 trillion. If you take away a bunch of zeroes, you are looking at saving $1.20 for every $35.50 spent. I would have been more impressed if it had been an attempt to cut $1.2 trillion A YEAR rather than over ten. Anyone else feel this is pathetic? I can do better than that using coupons from the Sunday paper. Hmmm, there's a new slogan "Coupons for Congress", we should discuss that later on.
Basically, no one is surprised that Congress failed. No one is surprised that they all blame everyone but themselves. No one is surprised that we are still struggling economically as a nation. The people that need to be surprised is Congress. Their surprise should come every two years when America heads to the polls and hands them a pink slip. Let's give Congress the opportunity to draw unemployment for a while.
What's Next After "Super Committee" Failure?
From FoxNews:
Obaa to Veto Any Attempt to Roll Back Automatic Cuts...
Ok, in the spirit of unbias blogging, I have included links to stories from the left and the right. By now, we all know that the super committee failed to reach an agreement regarding the additional $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. While this is no surprise to many of us, it does underscore the basic issue we have within our government, partisan bickering. Others have said that the parties act a checks and balances on each other, and to certain degree I concede this point. However, the checks and balance theory is shaken when we consider that the Democratic party controlled all three facets of our elected leadership (White House, Senate, and House) only a few years ago. During that time, they (the trifecta of our government) couldn't pass a single piece of budget legislation. Who is to blame for that short coming? I'm sure there are the hard-line Democrats who will blame the Republicans or George W. Bush, and that is fine. That is what makes our country superb. We can blame others for our own shortcomings. This does not, however, exempt the Republicans or Bush from their shortcomings and failures as lawmakers.
Now, with our Congressional leadership throwing in the towel (for now) we are still faced with a mounting debt crisis, out of control spending, continued unemployment, not to mention world issues that will impact us as a nation. The stock market reacted to the impending failure of the super committee in a less than favorable way, with the Dow dropping nearly 300 points. To the OWS campers, this should make you happy, but remember, there are middle and lower class employees who have a vested interest (not to mention retirement) in the success of the companies trading on Wall Street who were negatively impacted with that drop, so ease off the little people.
Many have said (including SecDef Panetta) that these "automatic cuts" (sequestration) will be the death of America, both in terms of defense and domestic spending. I, for one, am not drinking that Kool-Aid. Firstly, these cuts will not take effect until 2013, which gives our government another 13 months or so to fix their oopsy-poodle (yes, I just said that). Secondly, I suspect there will be an attempt by both parties to nullify these cuts if an agreement cannot be reached. The President has stated he will veto any attempt to do so, for which I applaud him. I'm not a huge fan of the current President, but on this issue, he should stick to his guns. Many in the Republican party have criticized him for his "lack of leadership" on this issue, but the super committee was a Congressional baby. He had nothing to do with it, and I again applaud him for letting Congress hang itself. Thirdly, the $1.2 trillion in cuts are to come out of a 10 yr span. Ladies and gentlemen, while $1.2 trillion sounds like an absurd amount of money, please realize that in the span of those cuts, (if we spend no more than we spent in 2010) will equal $35.5 trillion. If you take away a bunch of zeroes, you are looking at saving $1.20 for every $35.50 spent. I would have been more impressed if it had been an attempt to cut $1.2 trillion A YEAR rather than over ten. Anyone else feel this is pathetic? I can do better than that using coupons from the Sunday paper. Hmmm, there's a new slogan "Coupons for Congress", we should discuss that later on.
Basically, no one is surprised that Congress failed. No one is surprised that they all blame everyone but themselves. No one is surprised that we are still struggling economically as a nation. The people that need to be surprised is Congress. Their surprise should come every two years when America heads to the polls and hands them a pink slip. Let's give Congress the opportunity to draw unemployment for a while.
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