Deficut: Getting Down to Budget Business

 President Soetoro aka Obama a failure of leadership

Leadership Gap 

“... Meanwhile the (Republicans and Democrats) fight over relatively microscopic slivers and nicks, such as $14.8 million for grants for restoring historic buildings.

“Finding big money – the hundreds of billions (trillion and one-half!) needed ti dent the deficit – is a lot harder.

“Of course it is, as long as Congress keeps looking only within the confines of nondefense discretional spending – about 12 percent of the budget.

“Members of Congress could take a lesson from Ohio Governor John Kasich and other governors around the nation who are making unpopular but necessary decisions to rein in spending and restore their government s to sustainability.

“America needs national leaders with the same determination.” 

-- Editorial, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch Newspaper, March 20, 2011

Seldom do I agree with the editors of the heavily liberally biased capitol city paper. However, this time I agree with the gist of Sunday’s editorial. We need real leadership in the U.S. Congress to approve a deficit cutting budget for the remainder of this fiscal year and going forward. There is a lack of leadership on the part of both parties, but especially the spendthrift and tax it Democrats, although there are many Republicans-in-Name-Only who unfortunately talk one way to get elected and walk with the Democrats on many issues when push comes to shove.

Well, it is push time. I heard Missouri Congressman Todd Akin on C-Span simply expain that the Federal government receives $2.2 Trillion in revenue and will spend this year $3.6 trillion. It does not take a tax-avoiding Dartmouth schooled Secretary of the Treasury to figure that this is an unsustainable way to operate any entity, let alone a nation.

Representative Akin went on to say during his C-Span interview that funding of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the debt alone add up to $2.2 Trillion. So if we wanted a balanced budget it would take all the revenue the government is currently receiving to pay the current rate of entitlements plus the interest on the debt. Houston, err Washington, we have a problem!