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Mea Culpa… Alright Already.

One thing’s for sure, any time I drift off the reservation our readers are going to let us know about it. I’ve gone back and forth on this budget thing so much I’m beginning to feel like a yo-yo (grin). My somewhat (I thought) reserved approval of the Republican budget agreement and our House Majority Leader John Boehner drew a lot of heat very quickly, and once again caused me to stop and re-evaluate my position. That’s the value of a really well-read and savvy readership.

“I believe voters are asking us to set our sights higher,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said of the budget deal.

Then, as I was tending my scorched fingers, I tuned into Mark Levin… and got my eardrums blown off. Mark was on a tear. He totally excoriated Boehner and the budget deal and laid it out in detail. He re-framed my perspective on the whole thing, and so I guess I’ve gone from the skeptical hopeful column back into the skeptical suspicious column. This should teach me to trust my instincts for this stuff… my first response to any situation is usually the correct one.

Mark made the point that it was a cave… that the Republicans should have held their ground and forced Obama to shut down the government. Instead we have, as Mark said, John Boehner, who just last October said that he promised he would cut 100 billion from the budget. That 100 billion went to 71 billion, which then went to 40 billion… and we ended up with 38 billion. Also, as Mark pointed out, “Budget?, what budget? There isn’t one, remember?” And he’s right… there isn’t one.There hasn’t been one since 2009.

The DeMarxists are deathly afraid of presenting their bloated and obscene caricature of governance before the American people… their crimes against the people exposed for all to see. So they’ve kicked the can down the road, as they have done on virtually every critical issue that they did not destroy outright.

Now we are faced with having to go into the fight of our lives with the timid Mr Boehner at the helm, when the DeMarxists have already taken his measure and found him weak. How in hell is he going to be able to face them down when he’s already caved in? That’s like saying I’m going to face up to the town bully… next week.

It looks like it’s going to be tar, pitch and pitchfork time soon folks… oh, and don’t forget the feathers.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2011

COMMENTS

  • luvnthebigsites

    At the end of the budget news cycle after everyone has opined, the fact still remains. We are projected to spend 1200 billion more than we take in for the year and we just cut 38 billion. Yea! *sigh*

  • Death_of_the_Donkey

    The entire non-defense discretionary is about $400 billion/year. So, in order to have meaningful cuts towards an immediate balanced budget you have to cut from one of the other 4 pools:
    Defense – we seem to be against any defense cuts
    Interest – no real control there (and the Fed is really helping out here too)
    Social Security – I have yet to see anyone propose cutting current benefits to current seniors
    Medicare – See social security

    So, unless you raise taxes (and there isn’t a rate high enough to make up the shortfall (even if you cut all non-defense discretionary), we are still going to have a huge budget deficit in the short term.

    • YnotNOW

      It is politically untenable to make severe cuts in current retiree benefits, nor to make such drastic cuts within the next year’s budget, so there is no way around running a defict (and the corresponding requirement to increase the debt limit) for a while.

      BUT

      The cuts need to start now, and be phased in sooner rather than later (i.e. increase retirement age for those currently 59 instead of those currently 49 – and spoken as one who falls between those numbers) so that we are on a rapid trend toward smaller deficits – and getting the Debt load under control.