In roughly an hour from now (it's 9:15 AM on Monday, Feb 14), President Obama will be announcing his proposed budget for the 2012 fiscal year.
Currently, the US Deficit (how far we are below a balanced budget) is approximately $1.3 Trillion Dollars, and the national debt is(how much we owe other countries) is over $14 Trillion. Do the math, and America's deficit and debt amount to $4,000 and $45,000 per US Citizen, respectively.
Each year, it is the duty of the President to propose a budget to Congress that will work to lower both the deficit and the debt by reducing spending and waste where possible.
The budget that President Obama is about to propose to the nation will include cuts of $3.73 Trillion over the next ten years and includes a plan to cut wasteful spending in the government. That's the good news, and, unfortunately, that is ALL of the good news.
The President's $3.73 Trillion Dollar cuts fall over $250 Billion short of the $4 Trillion his administration recommended late last year. The budget will likely call for a five year spending freeze on "Non-Security Discretionary Spending" within the Government [$400 Billion], cuts to education (through eliminating funding for summer school programs and allowing interest on graduate school loans to begin accruing while the students are in college), and, perhaps most disturbing of all, the government plans to cut $2.5 Billion from a program that helps low income families to heat their homes and cut $300 million, nearly half the funding from Community Block Grants, a large and substantial portion of public funding for non-profit organizations throughout the United States.
In an interview with Candy Crowley on CNN's State of the Union, White House Budget Director, Jacob Lew, said that it would be "impossible for these budget cuts to be painless". Certainly, there is merit in that argument. With any cuts in spending, someone will inevitably lose out. However, being unable to make these decisions painlessly does not mean that cannot be made intelligently.
The largest institutions in the American Government, by far, are the US Defense Department and Entitlement Programs (Social Security, Medicare, Etc). The amount of excessive and wasteful spending within these programs is staggering, however it is political suicide to attempt to cut spending in these monstrous programs, even when it is done responsibly. Unfortunately, this nation is in an economic crisis, and one that does not require sheepishness in order to save political face, but rather one that requires fortitude in order to do what is right for the country. Cutting funding, which amounts to a proverbial drop in the bucket, from non-profit and community service programs, as well as making cuts which limit the abilities for grade-school students to reach their full potential and inhibits other students from being able to achieve higher education (all of which are hypocritical actions when considering the policy initiatives laid out in the President's State of the Union Address a few weeks ago) are simply NOT the answer.
In 2008, I voted for change. For a change from the same Washington insider deals and trading, for a change from politics as usual, for a change from the continued lack of ability to stand up to the powers that be and to fight for the American people, not simply for their vote. It was a change that I once believed in... a belief that I fear may prove futile.
2012 will certainly be an interesting year...
