‘Spending Freeze’? At Least Someone Recognizes There’s a Problem
Now, I confess that I do find a lot of this somewhat amusing. After all, the president has already signed off on two rounds of spending bills that raised discretionary spending by 20 percent over spending in fiscal 2008. This initiative has the feel of planning to diet one day a year — but I guess that beats zero. It’s also notable that it reflects (another) flip-flop from his campaign, where he described freezes as “using a hatchet where you need a scalpel.” To be honest, more powerful weaponry may be needed when faced with the Pelosi-Reid axis, but at least he picked up the hatchet. And, of course, the ultimate bemusement is that this is precisely what George W. Bush did when his deficits got out of control. So much for change.
In the end, the most important aspect about the Obama freeze is that it is one of a much larger set of initiatives that address how Congress formulates its budgets. Obama wants a freeze. A bipartisan coalition wants a commission. There are proposals for spending caps, pay-as-you-go rules, and constitutional amendments to constrain the size of spending. This is real evidence that (a) there is a problem, (b) Washington gets that there is a problem, and (c) the larger body politic has no idea what to do about the problem. The first step in these circumstances is to change the process by which budgets are put together. The second step — often not taken, clearly more difficult — is to change the budgets that are put together.
Step two is the key. All citizens should await the arrival of step two. It is the key to eliminating the possibility of a U.S. debt crisis. It is the path to preserving economic prosperity. It is at the heart of retaining the autonomy to choose the future of our dreams, not those of our international bankers.
Which brings us back to the Obama freeze. It is not a budget proposal that tackles the broken entitlement programs. It is not a fundamental rethinking of the role of government in a free enterprise system.
And it is not the solution for a threat to our future.
Just a minor point but I’m pretty sure in the SOTU address obama decide to include defense/vet spending in the spending freeze.
Spending freeze? More like spending frenzy. Yea, he’ll freeze the budget, or at least some tiny percentage of it, and he won’t do it this year but after 2011. Right now, though, it’s spend and spend and (it will come) tax and tax.
Barack Obama inherently does not believe in a budget freeze. The very concept contradicts the way he looks at the world. Obama is existentially committed to the Progressive doctrine that the government should dominate the private sector. Politicians and so-called civil servants should be running our lives. Obama will dedicate himself to cutting back on only one government role: national defense! He will weaken our military and intelligence capabilities if provided half a chance. All the other government functions will continue to grow exponentially.
So what I’m hearing is that, after uttering the longest string of manifestly false statements ever read publicly from a teleprompter, BHO hopes to fool America into thinking that he and his pet Congress are going to drop back from spending Taxpayers’ money like insane shopaholics (apologies to all the sane shopaholics out there) and start only spending money like crazed socialists on a weekend bender in Havana.
I have a better idea.
Rather than waiting in vain for “step two”, which any rational person knows will NEVER come; rather than spend another byte reiterating for the 1000th time how BHO has screwed the pooch (and America); how about we listen to this guy (and look at the CBO’s analysis of his plan). It’s not a panacea, but it’s several orders of magnitude more rational than BHO’s deceitful – and, ultimately socially suicidal – “freeze” rhetoric.
If we’re going to consider a stepwise approach – as opposed to tarring and feathering every member of Congress, BHO, his administration and the every justice on the Supreme Court (for allowing all this unconstitutional nonsense to swallow the Republic) – then how about we make the steps meaningful. And how about – instead of endlessly (and only) criticizing an administration we now KNOW to be actively working toward the destruction of the Republic – we pro-actively look for some real solutions? I mean, isn’t that what this “Conservatism 2.0″ here at PJM was supposed to be all about? Or was that just a lot of new media crapola?
Ryan’s proposal tackles exactly the spending this article focuses on, so the big mystery in my mind right now is: WHY wasn’t it mentioned here?
Small as the so called freeze is the worst part is the sincerity behind such gabble. If dependent on combined Executive and Congressional legislation it may be as easily eliminated as enacted.
A feint before the elections, back to business after. A loophole assuredly will be left open and what normal person at this time can trust the Obama/Pelosi/Reid axis?
This is on top of other daunting considerations.
Freeze = joke. no more no less. pay zero attention to this lie and empty promise.
It’ll end when there’s nothing left to tax. The American people will not accept the truth. They continually vote for people who promise them something, to be paid for by someone else. Oregon is merely the latest example. The parasites will kill this host as well.
You think Obama’s economic illiteracy is bad. In the UK our Labour government have managed to restore the gap between poor and rich to 19th century levels.
The party of the workers have succeeded in reistributing wealth from the poor to the rich.
Though they appear to be apathetic, uninformed, and content, the only folks that can head off a currency crisis brought on by excessive debt are the american voter.
Thus far they have indicated they are not interested rocking the borrow and spend boat, and until they start voting spenders out of office, nothing will change. The republican party is no more inclined to reduce spending than the democrats, so its not a simple matter to find candidates who are truly fiscally responsible.
As long as voters are mollified by obama’s oft repeated, and never acted on, promises to spend carefully, the best path is to do as I do and advocate responsibility while investing personally to minimize damage from a currency crisis (gold for example).
Obama continues to get worse. The SOTU speech was an embarassment. The latest is the news that Obama opposes the federal gov’t picking up the tab for the medical funding for 9/11 workers who are now suffering from their heroic work. Obama has no shame and this piece of news should enrage every American. He’ll make time and give money to union hacks, but not heroes.
We need to throw the Democrats out of office this year. It’s amazing a man with such big ears can be so deaf and out of touch. It’s sickening.
Let the countdown to Nov. 2nd begin. That week will be a week for celibration.How sweet will it be to see Americans take back this country.
Just a note—–SPENDING FREEZE—-500million to pay the taliban to switch sides. 500 million more from OBAMA to buy more weapons. Really smart. Instead of extending a hand, like IRAN, which didn’t work, our manchild, muslim president will give them this 500 million , through another phony program.
THIS IDOT AND HIS WHOLE CORRUPT BUNCH HAVE TO GO.
WAKE UP AMERICA before it is too late.