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Fed Budget/Deficit/Interesting NPR story
I heard this yesterday on NPR and thought it was a must read/listen for everyone.
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/07/134332981/as-deficit-looms-gang-of-six-seeks-compromise
This part is really sticking with me:
Most of what's at stake is discretionary spending not tied to national security. Warner says that includes a lot of popular programs, from NASA to children's nutrition. But it's only about 12 percent of the federal government's budget.
"If you keep coming back to this 12 percent, and that's the only focus, then programs that have provided real value are going to potentially be fully eliminated or dramatically cut back," says Warner. "I think everybody recognizes that we've got to get our deficit under control, and that means you've got to broaden the debate to where the money's at."
That means looking at defense, entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, and a wide variety of tax incentives.
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
Re: Fed Budget/Deficit/Interesting NPR story
I heard a similar story on NPR a week or so ago. They were talking to a retired senator/representative that had served on the presidents budget commission with Alice Rivlin. I don't remember his name... Maybe it was the same guy in this story.
He said basically the same thing.
His main point was that there was no way to balance the budget without touching the "Big 4" as he called it: Social Security, Defense, Medicare and Medicaid.
This stuck out for me too. To try to balance a budget by only touching 12% of hte whole seems crazy. I couldn't balance my household budget that way! Government has to do the same thing.
Exactly! I would look at the things I spend the most on and try to find ways to reduce those items. Of course, I'd also get a second job (raise taxes) if my situation was as drastic as the government's situation is...
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
I don't think it translates quite that neatly to gov't though.