President Obama today released a list of 121 proposed program terminations and reductions at a savings of $17 billion. This is a good thing, a nice first step towards some fiscal responsibility at the fed level.
A couple of problems: Every Dollar we "save" is going into new spending. Congress already said yes to $1,086 billion on regular discretionary spending in FY 2010. even if the entire $12.5 billion in discretionary spending cuts are enacted, the savings would automatically be plowed into other programs to maintain discretionary spending at that level. So its just moving money around and touting that as "savings".
Add to that the fact that $17 billion is 1/2 of 1% of the total FY 2010 budget. It is pretty much equal to the interest paid on the $787 Pork laden stimulus bill.
If Obama was serious about streamlining he would mandate that savings go towards Deficit reduction. Next keep going through and cutting. Unless of course 1/2 of 1% is the sum total of wasted government spending... (I don't think it is)
The next time someone spouts off that Obama "Inherited" the economy, kindly remind them that is Bullshit. He RAN for president, so he had a choice.
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