Jesus christ Bush, you're fucking up hard

The BBQ Pit
1

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040202/ap_on_go_pr_wh/budget_cuts_3

in order to offset the $500 billion deficit, he is cutting $4.9 billion out of programs designed for water treatment, halfway houses, education, policing, and other programs designed to benefit people. If this were a 200 billion cut i guess i would understand it but this will not make a dent in the deficit and all it will do is hurt a few million people. On the bright side, this will turn a few million voters against him and he will be out of office sooner.

some examples of this brilliant method of dealing with the 500 B deficit

For the Energy Department, the administration proposes spending $502 million — 22 percent less than last year — for research into the long-term health and environmental consequences of energy use and development. That includes programs for global climate change; air, land and marine environments; and biological effects of radiation.

The Education Department would realize a $1.4 billion saving from elimination of 38 programs, including those focused on alcohol abuse, the arts, dropout prevention, school counselors, smaller learning communities, school reform, and school leadership.

Hell, from what i understand the deficit isnt even 500 billion, its 650 billion but the administration is taking 150 billion out of social security.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2093707/

Back in 1983, as part of a deal to save Social Security from impending demographic doom, Congress enacted legislation to essentially increase payroll taxes and reduce benefits. As a result, the government began to collect more Social Security payroll taxes than it paid out to beneficiaries each year. The theory was that the government would use these surpluses to pay down the national debt.

So much for theory. The reality? For the first 15 years, every penny of the surplus was spent

By so doing, Washington spenders have masked the size of the deficit. For Fiscal 2004—which began in October 2003—if you factor out the $164 billion Social Security surplus, the on-budget deficit will be at least $639 billion

2

Problem is Bushes replacement will have to fix up the mess he has got USA into. I hope to fuck, for the worlds sake, you do get a new government.

But hey, forget all those needy, down and out Americans without reading books and learnin’, at least Iraq is liberated now.

3

Unbiased Aussie friend checking in here…

My understanding of the US economy is that for at least 18 months now, some of the world’s major Reserve Banks (England, Japan, and China in particular) have been propping up the US dollar with Foreign Exchange transactions.

But I’m also hearing major rumblings within those Reserve Banks that it’s starting to look a bit like throwing good money “after bad” - that is, it’s increasingly looking like a losing option to partake in. I’ve read predictions that the value of the US dollar is precipitously close to a “catastrophic fall” in value - when pegged to the Euro, Pound, and Yen.

OK, this will be a good thing from a US exporting point of view - however, I’m not at all convinced that the US is the major exporting oriented economy she once was.

In life, like all things, the fullness of time tends to allow major events to balance themselves out. I’m pretty sure that most learned folks would agree that the US has been living beyond her means for quite some time now - but she has expertly played the foreign currency game, as well as remaining a prime importer of foreign goods. But a massive devaluation of the US dollar would remove the dangling carrot which is the US Import economy to outside investors.

At least, that’s how it seems to me.

One thing’s for sure however - it’s wrong to blame President Bush in isolation for this. President Reagan started it. President Carter was an economic tight-wad compared to Ronald Reagan. It’s been a problem a long, long time in the making. We’re only just now starting to see the first signs of the global market place starting to force certain adjustments on the US economy.

The bottom line? I’d say in 3 years, 5 years tops, most people in the US are gonna have to get used to the idea that you can’t go round the place gloating “We’re Number One!” all the time anymore. I’d recommend a little bit more magnanimity in the near future to be honest. You’ll still have friends, but it would be wise to be just a dash less boastful (with the utmost respect).

4

Well, the environment, education, and the general health and well-being of poorer citizens may be fucked, but at least he cut taxes for rich people.

Close call.

5

Where’s Brutus? Where’s Manny? Where’s Sam? Shodan?

None of y’all going to come in and defend Bush?

And why the hell did he leave spending on Iraq out of his budget?

6

I like that he’s pissing off the conservatives, also, but then again, who are they going to vote for, Kerry, DEAN?? I think not. But hopefully they will either stay home out of disgust or vote Libertarian. Either way helps my guy.

7

Very astute and well spoken.

8

Well, speaking only for myself as a conservative you might be suprised at who I am willing to vote for. I am pretty certain that I am not the only one either.

MeanJoe

9

This is a President who, for the last few budgets that have been on his desk, has yet to veto a single spending bill. Now all of a sudden, before an election year, he proposes to cut spending, maybe, sorta, if those Democrats that run Congress will only let me?

Credibility, where art thou?

This is the President who campaigned on the idea that you should take responsibility for what you’ve done, good and bad. Can anyone point to much at all this President has taken responsiiblity for other than a boosterism? He still claims that the deficit is because of the war, 9/11, and the recession, not mentioning other factors that make a huge difference which fall under his responsibility (reduction in revenue and increase in spending even in areas NOT related to those three things).

Even the National Review Online can’t stomach it:
http://www.nationalreview.com/moore/moore200402020906.asp

But hey, he had nothing to do with it. He just works there, right? It’s all about taking responsibility!

10

Actually reeder, he’s gonna ask for (so i hear but have no cite for) another 40b in about six months.

11

Here’s a cite:

12

Geez, and to think we had a surplus just four years ago…

13

Geez. And here I thought this thread was going to be addressing the fact that the President has decided to address his credibility problem in Iraq by responding to calls for an independent investigation into the claims of WMDs in Iraq by hand-picking the panel of investigators and then announcing, before they can even meet, that the results won’t be in until well after the elections.

Instead, it’s about another fuckup of the same magnitude.

At least with this President, we get a wide variety of fuckups to choose from. That’s good, right?

14

Ummmm… there are far better economists on the SDMB than myself obviously - but I would cautiously remind the reader of the classic time-honoured truism that lies can figure, and figures can lie.

My understanding is that the US Federal Government has never once, since 1981, NOT been in deficit in a given fiscal year. But you can cook the figures to make it look different, for sure.

15

Your prez operates the US exactly as if it was Enron. The scenarios never pan out, whistleblowers are squashed like bugs, the P&L is dodgy, and the real money gets siphoned off somewhere else.

Outsiders were bound to notice eventually.

16

Our dollar may not be as strong down the road, but our military will still be able to flatten everyone else. :wink:

17

Hello, unbiased Aussie friend!

It’s my understanding that the goal of the non-US reserve banks in buying large amount of Treasury notes (especially China) isn’t to ‘prop’ up the dollar for the good of the US but rather to make the dollar have a higher value and promote foreign imports into the US by making overseas manufactured items less expensive in comparison.

It amounts to the same thing, I admit, but I don’t see a altruistic reason for it.

It’s God’s own truth that a dollar that sinks fast against the Yen, Yuan, and Euro will FORCE some economic truth on the whole world.

I’m glad my mortgage will only be $640/month shortly.

18

Because U.S. soldiers love to be paid with money that isn’t worth anything. So do defense contractors. It’s fun, like you’re playing Monopoly or something.

19

Actually, no, because it fractures the opposition. Various critics will have different pet issues, and a different choice for “top screwup.” The more of these there are to choose from, the more these lists will vary, and the less of a consensus will be achieved. Some may point to the Iraq war over all other issues, some to the tax cuts, some to faith-based spending, some to the environment, and so on. And the more alternatives there are, the smaller each group of adherents becomes, as the opposition splinters. Thus the undifferentiated mainstream sees the opposition not as a large group with a consistent, coherent argument, but as small and separated clumps of nattering nabobs squealing about their “special interest” concerns.

For those of us who are paying attention to the appalling record the current administration is accumulating, a multitude of stupidities would seem to be a political advantage, but I don’t think it works out that way in the real world.

20

Did anybody else read this thread title as “…fucking hard up”? I thought it was going to be about that lifeless mannequin he’s married to… :stuck_out_tongue: