Is there any chance that the deficit spending crisis will be averted?
*AP, by Andrew Taylor, May 7, 2009:
"Obama seeks hike in domestic spending
In twin strokes, President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to award
generous budget increases to domestic programs while proposing
relatively modest cuts to wasteful or obsolete programs that just won't
seem to die.
Officials said Wednesday that Obama's promised line-by-line scrub of
the federal budget had produced a roster of 121 budget cuts totaling
$17 billion — or about one-half of 1 percent of the $3.4 trillion
budget Congress has approved for next year. The details were being
unveiled Thursday.
White House budget director Peter Orszag said the president's plan for
program cuts is just a start and that a lot more needs to be done to
dig the government out of its fiscal hole, especially curbing the
growth of the Medicare and Medicaid health care programs for the
elderly and the poor.
'But $17 billion a year is not chump change by anyone's accounting,' he
said.
Those savings are far exceeded by a phone-book-sized volume detailing
Obama's generous increases for domestic programs that will accompany
the call for cuts. And instead of devoting the savings to defray record
deficits, the White House is funneling them back into other programs.
Most of the major elements of Obama's budget for next year were
released in February. Additional details were coming out Thursday and
next week.
The roster of cuts won't be easy for Congress to swallow. Lawmakers
from the potent California, New York and Florida delegations are sure
to fight the elimination of the State Criminal Alien Assistance
Program, which gives money to states to help defray the cost of
incarcerating illegal immigrants who commit crimes. President George W.
Bush tried and failed to kill the $400 million program several times.
In fact, some of the cuts, like terminating production of C-17 cargo
aircraft and phasing out direct payments to farmers with sales
exceeding $500,000 annually, have already been rejected by Obama's
allies in Congress."
*This information is solely a highlight of the opinion of a third-party publication and is incomplete. Please subscribe to this publication for the full and timely opinion of the author and call a Monex Account Representative for any additional up-to-date information. This is not an offer to buy or sell precious metals. Investors should obtain advice based on their own individual circumstances and understand the risk before making any investment decision.
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