When is a Duck a Duck-no offense to Ducks!

Tuesday – February 5, 2011

When is a Duck a Duck – no offense to Ducks!

You have all heard the expression when is a Duck a Duck. If it walks like a Duck, if it quacks like a Duck and if it looks like a Duck then it must be a Duck or more simply put it could even be a Politician.

The fiscal Budget for 2012 has been delivered to Congress. This is a yearly ritual in which we have all become acquainted with and have become immune to because it is just another excuse to spend our money.

The new budget that was submitted to Congress yesterday is a 3.7 trillion dollar expense plan. It is a 3.7 trillion dollar plan that not only keeps us in debt but raises our debt. It will raise the deficit by another 7 trillion dollars over the next ten years. What happened to the campaign promise the president made saying that he would reduce the deficit by half by the end of his first term? I guess he is ducking out of that promise.

The important number to understand now is the 1.65 trillion dollars in red ink in this year’s budget. The red ink was supposed to be 1.48 trillion it has now gone up by 170 billion dollars in just five weeks. The reason is because of a new calculation that is now being used. It takes into account the tax cuts and the social security tax holiday for this current fiscal year. But more importantly the rise in this year’s deficit is compounded by an economy that is not growing and expanding as rapidly as was hoped for. We are not even close to reducing the deficit for next year let alone this year.

The new budget does not touch Medicare and Social Security. Erskin Bowles the Democratic Co-Chair of the Deficit panel said “this budget is no where near approaching and solving the nightmare that he sees coming.” The problem is neither side is going first in recommending the actions necessary to solve this spending crisis. The Republicans don’t want to be seen as the devil that will cut benefits to the seniors and the democrats can’t afford to turn off their base by recommending budget cuts to entitlement programs and other social programs. We are in a debt crisis and until the president understands this we will not have a budget that reflects the cure to the problem.

Some of the budget cuts that we do know about are cuts that will reduce assistance to the poor in heating their homes. PEL grants are up for review and will require stringent application requirements. Other cuts are in home mortgage deduction for the wealthy and deductions for contributions made to charities. These cuts are for political demonization. Who will want to reduce assistance to the poor so that they can’t heat their homes? Who will want too make the application process for students who need the PEL grants harder to get. Who will take away the mortgage deductions and deductions for contributions made to charities?

There is also 5.5 billion dollars for a train to no where in California. This is for a Bullet Train that the president says will “wisk” passengers through town at 120 miles per hour on an 800 mile route. The first 55 miles of the proposed route stop’s in a town where the majority of its citizens reside in a prison. The theory behind this budget allocation is that once work begins on laying track it will be hard to stop future funding. There has been 8 billion dollars given to mass transit systems in California and they still don’t work. This is only one example of the waste that will turn into fraud. The country can’t afford this train now so why even talk about it.

The deficit the debt and the spending habits in Washington must be managed with one thought in mind. A balanced budget to cover only the essentials is what we must start with and what we must maintain going forward.

The President wants to have government live within its means. He says his budget will let us do that. However, with boondoggle programs such as a Train to no where it seems that this money can be used for something a little more beneficial like paying down the deficit. The president says he wants to contribute to the things he wants and the things that are important to him. That is the problem. It is not up to him to decide on what we need.

This new budget does not provide for any meaningful cuts and does not bring our spending into anything that comes close to living within our means. The president has once again ducked out on his responsibility.

Some one described something to me yesterday that really brought into focus what we are dealing with. It’s called the have’s and have s not: The have not’s think that they should be given aid and social assistance to even things out. The have’s think that things are being taken away from them. If we could start out in the budget process and eliminate what these two groups want then we might be able to create a budget that truly lets us live within our means.

A leader that can do that is not ducking out on the responsibility but would provide the environment for the nation to grow and become economically healthy in a secure way.

When a President walks like a leader, looks like a leader, acts like a leader and talks like a leader then he must be a leader. But when a president ducks form responsibility he becomes a lame duck.

George Washington said: “Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.” Washington was a leader and that is why he is known as the father of our Country.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: We must become leaders and we must not let the politicians duck out of their responsibility to us.