Much like a fat man at Pope's Fried Chicken who sets out to lose weight by ordering himself an eight piece family meal and double side of mashed potatoes with one white and one brown gravy, extra biscuits, fried okra, and a fried pie - but with a small Diet Coke, Obama finally rolled up his sleeves and set to the nasty business of spending less. He's directed his cabinet to trim $100,000,000 from the budget. Far be it from me to run down any attempt to limit government spending, but who put Dr. Evil in the Oval Office?
Seriously. Obama can't even go for a billion in savings? Think of it this way - Obama's new budget contains $650 billion in new non-war related spending. What he's asking the cabinet to do is the equivalent of a parent telling a teenager with $6,500 in new clothes she's spending too much and she'll have to take something that costs one dollar back. Or, as Republicans pointed out, that $100 million is what we'll pay every day in interest to cover February's stimulus bill.
Still, it's something. Then again, Number 2 must have spoken with Obama at some point between the time he put down the saving pencil and grabbed the spending Marks-A-Lot:
President Barack Obama on Monday proposed a $100 billion U.S. loan to the International Monetary Fund to boost the IMF's resources and urged a bigger stake in the IMF for emerging powers.Thank goodness there's a new era of transparency or I'd ask why the man who oversees the Treasury department needs to send a letter to Congress if it's just a non-budget exchange of assets? Money supply is the domain of Treasury, they can buy or sell debt as they see fit. Either way, we'll end up eating it in the long run. Does sending money to the IMF fill anyone with confidence it will be used wisely? Sand down a rat hole.In a letter to U.S. congressional leaders, Obama said the U.S. funding "does not represent a budgetary expenditure or any increase in the deficit since it effectively represents an exchange of assets."
Clipping a coupon to save a dollar on coffee in the morning and writing a check for a $1,000 pair of boots in the afternoon isn't really saving money. The AP is even mocking Obama. That's like your mom heckling you at pee wee football.
There is one thing about today you can take to the bank - come October 2012 we'll hear Obama boast about how he saved money through bulk purchasing of office supplies. And nobody at the AP will remember how he unremarkably spent 1,000 times more in the afternoon.
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Comments (11)
How about we cut out the sh... (Below threshold)1. Posted by hermie | April 20, 2009 9:23 PM | Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
How about we cut out the sharks with the laser beams on their heads?
1. Posted by hermie | April 20, 2009 9:23 PM |
Score: 6 (6 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2009 21:23
2. Posted by Justrand
| April 20, 2009 9:32 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
hattips to The Heritage Foundation and Instapundit:
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/04/20/obamas-spending-vs-obamas-spending-cuts-in-pictures/
PERFECT!
2. Posted by Justrand
| April 20, 2009 9:32 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2009 21:32
3. Posted by epador | April 20, 2009 9:36 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
NONONO, we keeps the frikin' sharks with the laser beams. Yes, but then get rid of Dr. Evil and put Scotty in charge, OK?
3. Posted by epador | April 20, 2009 9:36 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 20, 2009 21:36
4. Posted by kawaika | April 21, 2009 1:18 AM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
I remember one of the biggest complaints about the war in Iraq was that it would cost too much. Yet here we are spending even more on ridiculous bailout and make-work schemes than we would ever spend in Iraq. Fun times are ahead.
4. Posted by kawaika | April 21, 2009 1:18 AM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 01:18
5. Posted by JSchuler | April 21, 2009 3:09 AM | Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
I saw a video of Obama speaking on this subject, and it seems as though this is being misreported. He isn't asking for a total of $100 million to be cut from the budget, rather he seems to be asking each of his cabinet officials/agencies/whathaveyou (wasn't clear in the video I saw) to identify $100 million, each, to be cut. So, you could actually get a few billion knocked off with this process.
Ok, ok, it's still small potatoes after his spending spree.
5. Posted by JSchuler | April 21, 2009 3:09 AM |
Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 03:09
6. Posted by engineer | April 21, 2009 8:22 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
I'm so totally confused. Isn't all spending by the government a "stimulus" to the economy? So if we cut spending by $100 million, are we not "destimulating" the economy." And with the budget at $3,5 trillion, what happens with the $100 million in savings? Is it just spent elsewhere, therefore resulting in no savings at all?
Put into perceptive, a $100 million cut in a $3.5 trillion budget is the same as saying to your wife, "Honey, we have to cut spending. Instead of spending $350.00 on clothing this month, you can only spend $349.99.
6. Posted by engineer | April 21, 2009 8:22 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 08:22
7. Posted by JLawson | April 21, 2009 9:09 AM | Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
And the funny thing, Engineer, is that the folks who decry 'trickle-down' economics when it's the RICH doing the spending have absolutely no problem with the GOVERNMENT doing the spending in the name of 'stimulus'.
Guess it just depends on who's hosing out the money and where, doesn't it? Having the government complain about trickle-down economics is like an elephant complaining about soil erosion caused by a mouse pissing on a leaf.
I REALLY think the folks inside the beltway have no concept of the amounts of 'money' they're throwing around. Million, billion, trillion - there's no real difference to them, it's all just numbers on a sheet of paper or a screen and not actually anything real.
7. Posted by JLawson | April 21, 2009 9:09 AM |
Score: 0 (2 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 09:09
8. Posted by Razorgirl | April 21, 2009 10:04 AM | Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Suggestions for saving millions, maybe billions: 1) Pay cuts for all of Congress and do away with that lush pension plan; 2) Nancy Pelosi's plane. If coach class is good enough for GM's head, it's good enough for the pig; 3) Obama, stay at home and quit flittin' around the world on Air Force One. We would all be better off if he would just stay at the White House and walk the dog or shoot some hoops; 4) Major pay cuts for the President and Cabinet members and staff. Not just a freeze, a major cut so they can fully empathize with the rest of us; 5) Send Congress home for six months at a time. As long as they are not in Washington, they won't be spending our money. (What a bunch of useless idiots.)
8. Posted by Razorgirl | April 21, 2009 10:04 AM |
Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 10:04
9. Posted by TOhio | April 21, 2009 10:09 AM | Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
The fact that he asked for these cuts and had the corrupt mainstream media make news out of it says that the Tea Parties worked.
Obama is trying to do something that shows that he is cutting spending because people at the Tea Parties are mad about the spending.
Of course, the cuts are tokens. But, this says to me that Obama (and his poll takers) know that we the electorate aren't buying his spending plans. So, true to form, he does something that gets him a sound bite to look like he is doing more than he really is.
9. Posted by TOhio | April 21, 2009 10:09 AM |
Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 10:09
10. Posted by GarandFan | April 21, 2009 11:11 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
I had to laugh when The One made a comment about saving 'a hundred million here, a hundred million there soon adds up'. Too bad he didn't feel that way when he signed the mammoth pork bill. HE COULD HAVE SAVED BILLIONS!
He can talk the talk, he just can't walk the walk.
10. Posted by GarandFan | April 21, 2009 11:11 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 11:11
11. Posted by David M
| April 21, 2009 3:33 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 04/21/2009 A short recon of what's out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
11. Posted by David M
| April 21, 2009 3:33 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on April 21, 2009 15:33