In Lieu of Budget Leadership, Obama Proposes Spending Freeze

[realFedUp]

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/01/26/in-lieu-of-budget-leadership-obama-proposes-spending-freeze/

Jon Walker
Jan, 26, 2011


--Yesterday, during the State of the Union, President Obama decided to call for a five-year freeze on non-military discretionary spending. A whole 66 percent more spending freeze than last year’s call for a three year freeze! On every level, this random call to freeze spending at current levels is foolish political theater at its worst.

To begin with, non-military discretionary spending totals only a fraction of the actual federal budget. Freezing it will do almost nothing to actually deal with our long-term deficit. It is a talking point pretending to be a solution.

If Obama actually thinks there are wasteful discretionary programs, like ethanol subsidies and farm subsidies, he should just directly call for those programs to be eliminated. If ending a bunch of bad corporate welfare programs results in an overall cut in discretionary spending, that is good.

By the same token, if there are truly great programs that would dramatically help the economy, they should get the funds they need. These good programs necessary funding shouldn’t be solely dependent on reaching an agreement to cut an equal amount from other non-useful, non-military discretionary spending.

con't

Me-
Cut defense spending, get out of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
reinstate normal tax rates for very wealthy, get offshore corporation's taxes.

[realFedUp]

1. Obama's a great speechcrafter/maker

He managed to avoid all the mean spiritness that came
out of the last SOTU speech and I think a lot of that
was because they formed changed the seating so it
was less like a football game between rivals.
But we know this about Obama. He gives good
talk and he knows how to deliver it, but it missed
on many fronts, including those two wars no one
pays attention to except the families of the dead,
and the horrible fact that unless we sell pink colored
guns, we have a problem in this country.

[somone]

2. Leadership requires audacity

the real kind

[pscot]

5. It also takes a certain amount of imagination

which seems to be in very short supply around the Whitehouse. You can't see around corners without it. The President really should not write his own speeches. He proved that last night.

[Still a Democrat]

3. Gosh it's getting easy to smell a FDL knee jerk headline

A freeze on discretionary spending spares Social Security and Medicare - I would have sworn that's what they were wringing their hands about before the speech.

But they seem to have twisted a new morsel of despair so the tiny liberal anti-Obama fringe gets another fix of marginalization.

[emulatorloo]

4. Um he proposed a lot of new spending/investment, also presenting a budget in a couple weeks

Even talked about Defense spending cuts

FDL has a very narrow viewpoint, and at least half the time they seem to be misinformed.

[MasonJar]

6. Why isn't military spending ever curtailed?