Cutting Spare Change from the Federal Budget
In what is nothing more than a PR stunt, Obama is meeting with his cabinet for the first time today to ask them to cut, collectively, $100 million from the Federal Budget. That’s right, $100 million. Not $1 billion, not $10 billion, not $100 billion, not $1 trillion. With the spending that has gone on this year, Obama is asking his staff to cut $100 million. To us, that may seem like a lot, but looking at it in perspective, it is a paltry sum. Consider:
- It amounts to just .0029% of the Obama budget
- It amounts to only 0.013% of the stimulus bill alone
- It is equivalent to one day’s worth of interest on the debt necessary to finance the stimulus package.
- A person who spent $50,000 per year and decided to make the same percentage cut from their spending as Obama is proposing from the federal budget would be forced to cut $1.67 from their annual spending.
This announcement is nothing but window dressing. Obama is trying to diffuse the spending argument by making token spending cuts while massively increasing the size of government everywhere he turns. The trouble is, it just might work. Obama’s promise of tax cuts for “95% of working families” helped win him the election, despite the fact that it was untrue and did not take into account the tax increases the Cap-and-trade as well as the effect of the Bush tax cuts expiring would have.
At the same time, the statistics above should be used to counter Obama’s argument and make him a laughing stock. If the media were to do its job they would be all over this figure and report the statistics above. Since the media is nothing more than the Obama Ministry of Propaganda, it’s up to the rest of us to make the case.
