The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

[Bob Gray]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

And NASA should be like 50th on the list of things cut...it costs very little and there are tons of things killing the economy that could be cut first. Fiscal sanity has nothing to do with NASA and its $18 billion dollar budget. (which equals 2 months of the worthless wars we are fighting)

That's what everyone says about the piece of the budget they value and explains in a nutshell why we are in the fiscal disaster we are in.

I'm not arguing that NASA isn't more worthwhile than some things the feds pay for. I would tend to agree with you. I'm just saying that you'll get a lot of this same argument from people who have a dog in the fight for pretty much every other piece of the federal budget. So nobody's ox gets gored until the deficit eventually leads to a calamitous train wreck and every ox is gored.

 

[Handyman]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

That's what everyone says about the piece of the budget they value and explains in a nutshell why we are in the fiscal disaster we are in.

Oh I know, I said that earlier. If there was a NASA headquarters or Cape Canaveral in every state NASA's budget would triple overnight. When it comes to pork this country is the Anti-NIMBY

NASA and a lot of other programs become sacrificial lambs, the red herrings so called conservatives (as opposed to true conservatives) can trumpet to get rid of instead of going after the things that really are cratering this economy. No need to end the wars, cut military spending or fix the banking system if you have something else to distract the uninformed with

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Until they get the balls to cut Medicare, Social Security, or the National Security budget it's all BS.

I say 20% across the board until the bills paid.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Until they get the balls to cut Medicare, Social Security, or the National Security budget it's all BS.

I say 20% across the board until the bills paid.

That's (one reason) why you'll never be elected.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

That's (one reason) why you'll never be elected.

Yeah, but at least I'm not stupid enough to delude myself into believing these clowns when they say they care about the debt and/or deficit. They're all lying every time they bring it up.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Until they get the balls to cut Medicare, Social Security, or the National Security budget it's all BS.

I say 20% across the board until the bills paid.

Sadly, that wouldn't come close to balancing the budget.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Yeah, but at least I'm not stupid enough to delude myself into believing these clowns when they say they care about the debt and/or deficit. They're all lying every time they bring it up.

They want to get re-elected. Congresscritters who say those things need to be cut end up looking for work doing something else.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

They want to get re-elected. Congresscritters who say those things need to be cut end up looking for work doing something else.

Correct. It's all a sham and the press is complicit in it. We may as well be living in a police state the way these people lie to us to keep their jobs. It used to be called "serving the country", but it has evolved to just being drunk with power.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Agreed. Another science concession. It's sad and pathetic but I guess the good news is that we are the #1 military power on the globe. That's about all that's going to be left.

Art. Seriously, how much has this government given to fund the the national endowment for the arts, beautification projects, and crap like that? I've never been a fan of government spending on non-scientific endeavors.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Yeah, but at least I'm not stupid enough to delude myself into believing these clowns when they say they care about the debt and/or deficit. They're all lying every time they bring it up.

Most of them, not all. We've got a representative from Arizona named Jeff Flake, that has taken a lot of heat, even in Republican circles, for his stands on government spending. He opposed Bush's medicare expansion, the $250 COLA to seniors Obama proposed, and other stuff. How many representatives would say this about handing more money to seniors?

“I understand that these are tough economic times, but this money has to come from somewhere,” said Flake. “Future generations will have to pay off our deficits. We’re robbing Junior to placate Grandpa.”

 

[pirate]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

At least they are cutting back...Obama said he'll cut spending $4million dollars in salaries.

That might offset this:

http://blog.american.com/?p=10362


Look at number 5. Now tell me health care will be cheaper if run by the government. or anything for that matter.
Here are some key findings of the analysis of federal salary data:

1. The number of federal employees making six figures or more increased by 120,595 employees (46 percent) during the recession, from 262,163 employees in December 2007 to 382,758 in June 2009 (see chart above).

2. The number of federal workers making $150,000 or more has more than doubled since the recession started, from about 30,000 in December 2007 to more than 66,000 by the summer of 2009 (see chart).

3. The highest-paid group of federal employees, those making $170,000 or more, has almost doubled in less than two years, growing from 11,480 when the recession started to more than 22,000 by the time the recession most likely ended in June 2009 (see chart).

4. When the recession started in December 2007, the Department of Transportation had only one employee earning more than $170,000. Eighteen months later, in June 2009, there were almost 1,700 employees earning more than $170,000, for an eye-popping increase of 168,900 percent!

5. The explosion of federal employees earning six-figure salaries increased the average federal worker’s pay to $71,206 in 2009, which is 76.5 percent higher than the average salary of $40,331 for workers in the private sector.

6. The pay of federal employees is usually capped by their agency’s top administrator. When Randy Babitt was sworn in as the head of the Federal Aviation Administration in June 2009 at a higher salary than his predecessor, nearly 1,700 FAA employees had their salaries pushed above $170,000.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Most of them, not all. We've got a representative from Arizona named Jeff Flake, that has taken a lot of heat, even in Republican circles, for his stands on government spending. He opposed Bush's medicare expansion, the $250 COLA to seniors Obama proposed, and other stuff. How many representatives would say this about handing more money to seniors?

“I understand that these are tough economic times, but this money has to come from somewhere,” said Flake. “Future generations will have to pay off our deficits. We’re robbing Junior to placate Grandpa.”

That's fine but IMO you have to be willing to cut and slash all 3 of the big 3 or you're a fraud. Did he not vote for funding for either Iraq or Afghanistan on the same grounds? I'm still waiting for the war tax to be passed instead of putting it all on the Visa.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

That's fine but IMO you have to be willing to cut and slash all 3 of the big 3 or you're a fraud. Did he not vote for funding for either Iraq or Afghanistan on the same grounds? I'm still waiting for the war tax to be passed instead of putting it all on the Visa.

I'm not sure how he's voted on Iraq and Afghanistan. Obviously that's a nuanced situation, given that even many folks who didn't like going in will vote to fund it once it's underway. Even if he did support it, it's extremely short-sighted to rail on him for that one item if overall he's showing vastly more fiscal responsibility than his colleagues in Congress.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

I'm not sure how he's voted on Iraq and Afghanistan. Obviously that's a nuanced situation, given that even many folks who didn't like going in will vote to fund it once it's underway. Even if he did support it, it's extremely short-sighted to rail on him for that one item if overall he's showing vastly more fiscal responsibility than his colleagues in Congress.

Not really. He's just picking and choosing like everyone else. Everyone wants what they want paid for and what everyone else wants cut. It's never going to get under control until someone just comes in and says 20%, 50%, whatever it takes across the board.

 

[Bill]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Good article on what would help straighten out the Wall Street Banking mess:

http://moneymorning.com/2010/02/12/trading-ban/

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Not really. He's just picking and choosing like everyone else. Everyone wants what they want paid for and what everyone else wants cut. It's never going to get under control until someone just comes in and says 20%, 50%, whatever it takes across the board.

You know nothing about Jeff Flake, or you wouldn't say that. You're simply clueless on this one. Go find out something about him before you pronounce judgment on him. I mean, really.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

You know nothing about Jeff Flake, or you wouldn't say that. You're simply clueless on this one. Go find out something about him before you pronounce judgment on him. I mean, really.

Good comeback. Thanks for bothering to comprehend what I was saying. Now tell us what your sacred cow is cause everyone seems to have one.

 

[Priceless]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

You know nothing about Jeff Flake, or you wouldn't say that. You're simply clueless on this one. Go find out something about him before you pronounce judgment on him. I mean, really.

Flake voted against No Child Left Behind, Sarbanes-Oxley, Medicare Part D, Homeland Security Act[4], and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. He sponsored bills to increase legal immigration and establish a guest worker program.

Flake initially supported the Patriot Act and the Iraq War, but more recently has changed his position to one of cautious opposition, including voting against appropriations for both. He also supports ending the Cuba Trade Embargo and has been an insistent reformer in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In July 2007, Flake was ruled the least profligate spender in Congress by Citizens Against Government Waste and designated a "taxpayer superhero."

Voted NO on $192B additional anti-recession stimulus spending. (Jul 2009)
Voted NO on modifying bankruptcy rules to avoid mortgage foreclosures. (Mar 2009)
Voted NO on additional $825 billion for economic recovery package. (Jan 2009)
Voted NO on monitoring TARP funds to ensure more mortgage relief. (Jan 2009)
Voted NO on $15B bailout for GM and Chrysler. (Dec 2008)
Voted NO on $60B stimulus package for jobs, infrastructure, & energy. (Sep 2008)
Voted NO on defining "energy emergency" on federal gas prices. (Jun 2008)
Voted NO on revitalizing severely distressed public housing. (Jan 2008)
Voted NO on regulating the subprime mortgage industry. (Nov 2007)
Voted YES on restricting bankruptcy rules. (Jan 2004)
Supports Balanced Budget Amendment & on-budget accounting. (Dec 2000)

Voted YES on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Sep 2004)
Voted NO on constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. (Jun 2003)
Rated 0% by the HRC, indicating an anti-gay-rights stance. (Dec 2006)
Rated 25% by the NAACP, indicating an anti-affirmative-action stance. (Dec 2006)

You'd like him Scoob...he wants to abolish the DOE.

Voted NO on $40B for green public schools. (May 2009)
Voted NO on additional $10.2B for federal education & HHS projects. (Nov 2007)
Voted YES on allowing Courts to decide on "God" in Pledge of Allegiance. (Jul 2006)
Voted NO on $84 million in grants for Black and Hispanic colleges. (Mar 2006)
Voted YES on allowing school prayer during the War on Terror. (Nov 2001)
Voted NO on requiring states to test students. (May 2001)
Abolish the federal Department of Education. (Dec 2000)
Rated 17% by the NEA, indicating anti-public education votes. (Dec 2003)
Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer. (May 1997)

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Good comeback. Thanks for bothering to comprehend what I was saying. Now tell us what your sacred cow is cause everyone seems to have one.

I'm one of the biggest fiscal conservatives on this board. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were a noob, but I know you aren't. I've been talking about budget deficit problems since I came on this board back in the mid to late 1990s. Did so all through the Bush years and am doing so now through the Obama years. I have no sacred cow. Everything is going to take a beating if we are ever to get the federal budget under control. But, someone like you who feigns to care about budget problems, but then rails against probably the biggest fighter for fiscal conservatism in Congress either doesn't know what's going on or is very inconsistent. I don't know, maybe you're having a bad day or something?

 

[pirate]

Re: The 2011 Budget of the United State - Alice, you're not going to the moon!

Looking at the US DOT budget, every department but one is growing FTE from 2008-2011, adding 2,100 total FTE. Using the average salary from below $71,206... that is another $150 million in base pay added. Gross that up for fully loaded expense and it is probably closer to $250 million in the budget. That doesn't include the base pay increases for the other 56,000 people working there. Pretty soon you are talking about real money!

How many government agencies are there?

After years of decline, the Mine Safety and Health Administration is growing again...must be all of those new mines dotting the landscape. Maybe they are regulating data mining too. Not sure about the size of the Buggywhip Administration or the Department of Black and White Television but my guess is they aren't shrinking.