Money? We've Got Plenty!

Well, now they've done it. Congress has just proved that not only are they completely incapable of restraining themselves, they are also so full of hypocrisy that it's oozing out of their ridiculously inflated heads. 

Only this time there's plenty of blame to spread around...among both parties.

In case you didn't know, in the words of Genie from Aladdin, just ruminate whilst I illuminate. So the House has just passed a so-called "Omnibus" bill, which basically doles out money to just about everyone but me. Losers. Apparently they didn't think there was a need for researching the effectiveness of dog saliva as a mosquito repellent, a project currently being researched by The Jasonian Institute of Alternative Preventative Restrictionary Annoyances, or JIAPRA. Just rolls off the tongue doesn't it? 

Anyway, so it's around $400b and is L-O-A-D-E-D (with a capital oink) with earmarks. To the tune of, I dunno, NINE THOUSAND of them. This time around, nobody is denying they're in there, and there are plenty of earmarks from both sides of the aisle. What's interesting about all these earmarks is that we've all heard Obama say, time and time again, that he was going to remove earmarks from legislation. I say if that's his goal, he's off to a horrible start. Oh, rest assured the powers that be have been cornered about this very hypocrisy. The response? 

Them: "Well, certainly we are going to do that in the future, but this bill actually started last year, so..."

Us: "But it hasn't been signed into law yet, right?"

Them: "Nooo, but..."

Us: "So you could, I dunno, NOT pass it until it was cleared up?"
Them: "But we promised those groups that..."

Us: "What about your promises to us?"
Them: "Yes, but you don't give us mon-- uh, I mean to say.."
Us: "I think I've heard enough. Thanks."

[We walk off.]

Them: "Next one! Promise! You'll see!"

I bet we will.

I'm not going to go into listing all the ridiculous things that are in this bill, you can surely find it online with VERY little effort. What I will do is post a link to the actual bill's PDF file, available at house.gov. This is a scanned document with hand written corrections all over it. I haven't looked at the whole thing (very few probably have, including those in DC), but a few things in the first few pages just jumped out at me. First, go ahead and go to page 3 and start reading the numbers. You'll quickly notice a pattern. Nearly all of the appropriations are larger than the requested amount! So some group requests a sum of money and not only do they get it, they get MORE. This is not on one or two of them - keep reading. I also noticed something else on page 3 (and others). Remember how I said they weren't denying earmarks? Check out that text - Insert Earmarks, which has been scratched out and replaced with "Table". Niiiice.

Here's another little not-very-reported note about this bill. Mr. No-More-Earmarks himself actually was a cosponsor on one of the earmarks in this bill!! Apparently, when he proposed it as a senator, it wasn't an earmark, per se. It was still porkish, so whatever (pork, earmark...all I hear is 'waste'). Apparently, in true Washington fashion the farmers filled up the trough and it in fact became an earmark. However, fret not: he's going to be squeaky clean now, since his name was just removed from it. The amount hasn't changed ($7.7m), but at least he was able to get his name withdrawn so that he can now say he never put an earmark on it. Must be cool to be the boss...

Do you see what's going on here? They don't care about the country or this financial crisis. NONE of this stuff should be in here. It has nothing to do with the government looking out for us. It has to do with legislators wanting federal monies for their own districts back home. And we're ALL paying for it.

But wait - that's not all!

Obama has also released the fiscal budget! Nearly $4 trillion! For years, everyone on the left railed on Bush for expanding our deficit after Clinton had surpluses (which technically weren't surpluses unless you  use Washington accounting 'standards'), and with one fell swoop, Obama will increase the deficit that Bush created by a huge amount, no matter how you look at it. Check out this graph:

So, the budget 'suggestion' to Congress (after all, it still has to be debated/approved) is $3.6 trillion. The deficit portion of it is...wait for it...$1.75 trillion. That's right - HALF of it is deficit spending!! They're basically spending two dollars for every dollar they bring in. Only the government can get away with that. You and I would have to go to credit counseling or something...

For some perspective, Bush's last year in office we had tons of bailouts right? I remember cringing at the thought of bailing out the various companies for billions of dollars. Despite all of that, it "only" produced a somehow-not-so-big-now deficit of $455 billion. 2009's will be nearly 4 times this figure. Amazing. Toward the end of last year (Sept '08), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected the deficit to exceed $400b for the next 2 years if current policies remained in place. Well, thank God that the policies were changed! That would have been horrible!! Oh wait...

Don't worry though, Obama said. He still plans to reduce the inherited deficit by half by the end of his term. So he's saying either he or the next president will have a deficit of around $225 billion by 2013. Old Scratch better be buying a parka, cause it's apparently gonna be getting cold down there.

My explanation? Obama is striking quickly while the flames of his fiery stampede to the White House are still burning. He has put just about everything he ever dreamed about in this proposal. I think (hope) much of it will get cut, but you can bet that not all of it will. Perhaps that is a not-so-subtle intent. Throw everything he can knowing that at least some of it will get through. If he does that every year he'll eventually get what he wants.

Just yesterday, Obama said this: "We will, each and every one of us, have to compromise on certain things we care about but which we simply cannot afford right now."

No $h!t, Sherlock. 

How's about you start sippin' on some of that medicine you're selling?