I just read an article on msn.com. I feel this is going to be a heated subject in the White House for months to come. I'm going to have to agree with President Obama on this one. We need to cut reckless governmet spending to reduce the national debt. I know it's only going to be a 5 percent freeze but in times like these every penny counts. We also don't want to scare China off because they are the only ones really investing in our country and if we lose them we are screwed. I also like how Obama does not care about how his decisions are going to effect his chance at re-election. His decisions are based on how they benefit the whole country not just for his political gain.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33910089
2 comments:
I have to disagree, I think that politically this makes sense because people will have the impression that Obama is looking out for the country, not himself. Politicians have a reputation for making decisions and/or promises that will gain them votes. Like Dr. Tufte said in class, there is only 17% of the budget that is discretionary (www.cbo.gov). I agree that every little bit of saving helps, but that will be such a small amount that I don't think it will be noticed.
Tyler: read the directions on how to make a link in the sidebar. I'll dock points in Block 2 for not making your link look nice.
The Obama administration has been heavily using the trope that they can cut waste and make government more efficient. Don't fall for it. Does anybody not want to cut waste? Does anyone want to make it more inefficient? I have no doubt that there are some inefficiencies in our government, but you need to be realistic about how big they are in percentage terms. Look at how much "waste" the state of Utah has been able to cut - not much when compared to the "non-waste" cuts they've had to make - and that's with conservative politics and a balanced budget requirement.
Tyler: no personal criticism intended, but I think "every penny counts" tends to be a platitude used by people who've already made some of them count less than others. In this case, Obama is saying every penny counts, other than the 83% of them that don't.
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