Budget priorities and government spending
I did not plan to write this particular post at this particular time. However, it does fit in with my current series on the federal budget and is appropriate.
1) I was scanning the Peoria Journal Star last night and the following ad caught my eye. It was on page A2, of the February 28, 2011, Peoria Journal Star. It was located at the lower right corner of the page at the very bottom of the page. The spacing in the ad will not be the same but all the wording is as provided in the ad. The ad reads as follows:
“Having trouble hearing on the phone? Illinois has a FREE amplified phone program!
Open House March 1 from 11-1
Come test the phones!
Advocates for Access
4450 N. Prospect Rd. Ste C8
(309) 682-3500
Bring the latest copy of your phone bill and proof of residency (driver’s license, state ID, or a piece of mail with your name and address on it)
No age or income restrictions
http://www.itactty.org/
A FREE program required and governed by Illinois law”
WHAT! WHAT!! WHAT!!! WHAT!!!! WHAT!!!!!
Is this for real!?!?!? The State of Illinois has a projected $15 billion budget deficit! The State of Illinois has just increased the State income tax rate by 67%! And the State of Illinois has a scheme to provide a FREE amplified phone program?
If it is for real, here is a shock to the people who passed/established this program! Here is a shock to the people who use this program! IT IS NOT FREE! The money for this program and the money to administer this program and the money to advertise this program and the money to maintain this program MUST come from somewhere! Ultimately, it is either from TAXPAYER money or from BORROWED money. An amplified phone program is a priority in a State that has a projected $15 billion deficit and just raised the individual State income tax rate by 67%?!?!?! Are they serious!
Wait a second! I don’t have a hearing problem! This FREE program is NOT going to help me! But, wait! I have a vision problem! I can’t legally drive a car without wearing the proper vision correcting apparatus! It’s a safety issue! Where is my FREE program to provide me with FREE pairs of contact lenses! It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe!
I guess I’ll just have to drive without a proper vision correcting apparatus! It won’t be my fault if an accident occurs! It won’t be my fault if someone is injured or killed! I didn’t have a FREE vision correcting apparatus provided to me! Where’s the fairness in that! It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe!
2) Recently, on the radio I heard an advertisement for a federal program to provide free cell phones and free cell phone service to individuals who met certain federal government criteria. The federal government has a debt of over 14 trillion dollars. The federal government’s projected budget deficit for the 2011-2012 fiscal year is 1.65 trillion dollars. And yet, the federal government has a program to provide free cell phones and free cell phone service for selected people?
Of course! It will provide jobs! It will help these selected people to better communicate with the outside world. It will make it easier for them to call their drug suppliers to replenish their drug supply. Seems fair to me! Doesn’t it to you? This IS a federal government priority!!!
Wait a second! I don’t have a cell phone! I don’t have cell phone service! I don’t take drugs and therefore don’t have a drug supplier! This FREE program is NOT going to help me! But, wait! All the federal government has to do is provide me a free cell phone and free cell phone service and I won‘t complain. It’s a safety issue! What if I get stranded on a highway without my vision correcting apparatus? Where is my FREE program to provide me with a FREE cell phone and service! It will help provide jobs!
It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe! I want a free cell phone and free cell phone service! I want it NOW!!! It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe!
3) Recently, Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin was in Peoria complaining of the just passed (by the House of Representatives; now being considered by the Senate) Appropriations Act for the 2010-2011 federal fiscal year. He complained that the removal of 61 billion dollars of expenditures, including 10 million dollars that was proposed for a Peoria project, should not have occurred. It would hurt the economy. It would prevent job creation. It would hurt Peoria.
Of course, he did not mention that the federal government DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY!!! Of course, he did not mention that the federal government has a DEBT of over 14 TRILLION DOLLARS and GROWING!!! Of course, he did not mention that the federal government’s 2010-2011 fiscal year budget WAS NOT PASSED by the Democratically controlled Congress in 2010 when the Appropriations Act was first being considered!!! Of course, he did not mention that the President’s proposed federal fiscal year 2010-2011 budget had a projected deficit of approximately 1.5 trillion dollars!!!
Using 2008-2009 fiscal year budget figures which I posted on February 26th, the federal budget deficit was $1.413 trillion. Rounding that figure off, let’s use a budget figure deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars which is closer to the projected deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2010-2011 which we are now in and closer to the 1.65 trillion dollar deficit projected for the newly proposed 2011-2012 budget.
1.5 trillion ($1,500,000,000,000) divided by 365 days in the year yields a daily deficit of just over 4.1 billion dollars ($4,100,000,000) a day! The House of Representatives recently passed a budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 that would reduce the budget, according to mass media accounts, by approximately 61 billion dollars ($61,000,000,000). That total reduction would stop the national debt from growing for less than 15 days! (61 billion dollars divided by 4.1 billion dollars.)
As I said in a previous post, that reduction is less than 2% of the budget! Do you think the Senate and the President will have the economic sense to accept such a small cut in the budget. From everything I’m hearing and reading, they will not! Remember, in the 2008-2009 budget we were borrowing 40% of every dollar spent.
In our family budget example, we had income of $60,000, were spending $100,000, and were borrowing $40,000. In that example, if we cut spending by 2%, we would be spending $98,000, still making only $60,000, and still borrowing $38,000 a year. Could a family get out of this fiscal hole by only cutting spending by 2%? Of course, NOT!!! The family would go deeper and deeper into debt each year and it would be harder and harder each year to cut spending!
Why is ANY government budget different than a family budget? The only way to stop a SPENDOHOLIC from spending is to CUT the spending! The federal government MUST stop spending more money than it has. We must demand drastic cuts in government spending! In reality, spending more money than one has does NOT improve a family or an economy. It just postpones the day of reckoning!
DEMAND that the House cuts be approved by the Senate! DEMAND major and significant CUTS in the 2012 budget. It’s time to TAKE BACK the NATION!!!
I did not plan to write this particular post at this particular time. However, it does fit in with my current series on the federal budget and is appropriate.
1) I was scanning the Peoria Journal Star last night and the following ad caught my eye. It was on page A2, of the February 28, 2011, Peoria Journal Star. It was located at the lower right corner of the page at the very bottom of the page. The spacing in the ad will not be the same but all the wording is as provided in the ad. The ad reads as follows:
“Having trouble hearing on the phone? Illinois has a FREE amplified phone program!
Open House March 1 from 11-1
Come test the phones!
Advocates for Access
4450 N. Prospect Rd. Ste C8
(309) 682-3500
Bring the latest copy of your phone bill and proof of residency (driver’s license, state ID, or a piece of mail with your name and address on it)
No age or income restrictions
http://www.itactty.org/
A FREE program required and governed by Illinois law”
WHAT! WHAT!! WHAT!!! WHAT!!!! WHAT!!!!!
Is this for real!?!?!? The State of Illinois has a projected $15 billion budget deficit! The State of Illinois has just increased the State income tax rate by 67%! And the State of Illinois has a scheme to provide a FREE amplified phone program?
If it is for real, here is a shock to the people who passed/established this program! Here is a shock to the people who use this program! IT IS NOT FREE! The money for this program and the money to administer this program and the money to advertise this program and the money to maintain this program MUST come from somewhere! Ultimately, it is either from TAXPAYER money or from BORROWED money. An amplified phone program is a priority in a State that has a projected $15 billion deficit and just raised the individual State income tax rate by 67%?!?!?! Are they serious!
Wait a second! I don’t have a hearing problem! This FREE program is NOT going to help me! But, wait! I have a vision problem! I can’t legally drive a car without wearing the proper vision correcting apparatus! It’s a safety issue! Where is my FREE program to provide me with FREE pairs of contact lenses! It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe!
I guess I’ll just have to drive without a proper vision correcting apparatus! It won’t be my fault if an accident occurs! It won’t be my fault if someone is injured or killed! I didn’t have a FREE vision correcting apparatus provided to me! Where’s the fairness in that! It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe!
2) Recently, on the radio I heard an advertisement for a federal program to provide free cell phones and free cell phone service to individuals who met certain federal government criteria. The federal government has a debt of over 14 trillion dollars. The federal government’s projected budget deficit for the 2011-2012 fiscal year is 1.65 trillion dollars. And yet, the federal government has a program to provide free cell phones and free cell phone service for selected people?
Of course! It will provide jobs! It will help these selected people to better communicate with the outside world. It will make it easier for them to call their drug suppliers to replenish their drug supply. Seems fair to me! Doesn’t it to you? This IS a federal government priority!!!
Wait a second! I don’t have a cell phone! I don’t have cell phone service! I don’t take drugs and therefore don’t have a drug supplier! This FREE program is NOT going to help me! But, wait! All the federal government has to do is provide me a free cell phone and free cell phone service and I won‘t complain. It’s a safety issue! What if I get stranded on a highway without my vision correcting apparatus? Where is my FREE program to provide me with a FREE cell phone and service! It will help provide jobs!
It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe! I want a free cell phone and free cell phone service! I want it NOW!!! It’s NOT fair! It’s NOT safe!
3) Recently, Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin was in Peoria complaining of the just passed (by the House of Representatives; now being considered by the Senate) Appropriations Act for the 2010-2011 federal fiscal year. He complained that the removal of 61 billion dollars of expenditures, including 10 million dollars that was proposed for a Peoria project, should not have occurred. It would hurt the economy. It would prevent job creation. It would hurt Peoria.
Of course, he did not mention that the federal government DOES NOT HAVE THE MONEY!!! Of course, he did not mention that the federal government has a DEBT of over 14 TRILLION DOLLARS and GROWING!!! Of course, he did not mention that the federal government’s 2010-2011 fiscal year budget WAS NOT PASSED by the Democratically controlled Congress in 2010 when the Appropriations Act was first being considered!!! Of course, he did not mention that the President’s proposed federal fiscal year 2010-2011 budget had a projected deficit of approximately 1.5 trillion dollars!!!
Using 2008-2009 fiscal year budget figures which I posted on February 26th, the federal budget deficit was $1.413 trillion. Rounding that figure off, let’s use a budget figure deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars which is closer to the projected deficit of 1.5 trillion dollars for fiscal year 2010-2011 which we are now in and closer to the 1.65 trillion dollar deficit projected for the newly proposed 2011-2012 budget.
1.5 trillion ($1,500,000,000,000) divided by 365 days in the year yields a daily deficit of just over 4.1 billion dollars ($4,100,000,000) a day! The House of Representatives recently passed a budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 that would reduce the budget, according to mass media accounts, by approximately 61 billion dollars ($61,000,000,000). That total reduction would stop the national debt from growing for less than 15 days! (61 billion dollars divided by 4.1 billion dollars.)
As I said in a previous post, that reduction is less than 2% of the budget! Do you think the Senate and the President will have the economic sense to accept such a small cut in the budget. From everything I’m hearing and reading, they will not! Remember, in the 2008-2009 budget we were borrowing 40% of every dollar spent.
In our family budget example, we had income of $60,000, were spending $100,000, and were borrowing $40,000. In that example, if we cut spending by 2%, we would be spending $98,000, still making only $60,000, and still borrowing $38,000 a year. Could a family get out of this fiscal hole by only cutting spending by 2%? Of course, NOT!!! The family would go deeper and deeper into debt each year and it would be harder and harder each year to cut spending!
Why is ANY government budget different than a family budget? The only way to stop a SPENDOHOLIC from spending is to CUT the spending! The federal government MUST stop spending more money than it has. We must demand drastic cuts in government spending! In reality, spending more money than one has does NOT improve a family or an economy. It just postpones the day of reckoning!
DEMAND that the House cuts be approved by the Senate! DEMAND major and significant CUTS in the 2012 budget. It’s time to TAKE BACK the NATION!!!
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 6:51 AM
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