Congressional Hypocrisy
 

Current budget battles:

Congress wants to "trim the deficit" by reducing the budget by about $50 billion dollars. Programs targetted for cuts: Medicaid, food stamps and federally guaranteed student loans. Hardly the darlings of the politically connected.

Also, in the works is a tax cut extension worth $70 billion, mostly benefitting the highest earners.

Slated to come into effect 01 Jan 2006: $150 billion in tax cuts passed five years ago. Why would you make something touted as beneficial only effective in such a delayed fashion. Because the bill to pay for it is separated from the debate on it's worth. Of course, this debate happened before all the trouble of 11 Sep 2001 and the subsequent wars. BIG expensive items that were not part of the discussion about the appropriateness of massive tax cuts.

But will there be such a discussion now? I certainly hope so. I hope you all raise holy hell. Ready? Go!

The smaller the Federal budget, the smaller its inflationary effect. Minimal inflation keeps financial planning simple and moneymaking virtuous -- mostly -- and more so than when inflation is powerful enough to encourage excessive debt loads, and discourage savings and investments, all of which tends to have spillover effects into social mores.

UG - um, uh, well, ah, hmmm

BigV - my friend look deeper into the numbers and the facts, not just the propaganda. i will never suggest that any politician does anything for truly altruistic reasons, but there is numerical, quantitative support for much of what you see - if you are willing to read, absorb, and accept that which may be difficult to believe. if not - good seeing/reading/hearing you, my friend.

Many of the Big Defense Contractors have been openly worried for the last 2 or 3 months. Strong signals from Washington that they are going to cut 10 billion from the defense budget........leaving only 390 billion to go around. :mecry: