US 'Budget' 2010

‘You’re doing poorly because some other people are doing well.’
Class warfare litmus message

George Rebane

The following slides were sent to me by an RR reader who is also one of my Washington correspondents.  The title's semi-quotes draw attention to the fact that during 0bama's term there has been no budget passed in the normal sense of the word.  These graphics were prepared by the office of Representative Vicki Hartzler (R-MO) from OMB/CBO data.  The amounts and relative sizes of the revenues and expenditures for FY2010 are 'close enough for government work', at least the kind that we debate on these pages.  In any event, they are a clear presentation of the data, and are worth a close look for understanding our current fiscal situation.

Comments

[Mikey McD]

The solutions are as easy to identify as the crisis. Finding politicians with the stones to be leaders is the real problem.

[Michael Anderson]

The graphs speak for themselves. The problem is that with a dysfunctional & unconstitutional two-party system, you will never solve this problem. Back to square 1.

[Account Deleted]

What 2 party system? We can have as many parties as we like. Folks are free to vote for whomever they like. There are plenty of TP type candidates that won and many more in the wings. In Nevada they liked Harry - a man with a proven over-spending record. That's what those voters wanted. We have democratically elected folks to rob us. We, the voters do this to ourselves. If you don't like what you see in the mirror, don't blame the mirror.

[RL Crabb]

Old habits are hard to break, especially when the Big Two are screaming at us that the Republic is doomed and you'll throw your vote away if you don't vote for OUR party! People are starting to wise up to this garbage. "Decliners" are on the rise.

[Account Deleted]

Bob - I think you are talking about addiction. That is hard to break. Last Pres election, I voted for Alan Keyes. Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeesy. I'm fascinated by your contention that you or others feel compelled to do what is screamed at you. Sounds like a mental health problem. I don't remember any screaming, but then I listen mostly to Fox and read the lefty stuff on-line. Are they screaming now? Inquiring minds want to know. People are wising up? George Wallace got quite a few votes when he ran 3rd party. Were those votes from the wise? Just Asking.

[RL Crabb]

Ross Perot got a lot of votes too, even after he went crazy, quit, and then came back. I don't pretend to speak for the Declining voters, but I do believe there are many who would like to see some better candidates than those the two parties are foisting upon us.

I don't care if my third party vote goes to waste. It's like you said, Scott, you have to look in the mirror occasionally.

[Ben Emery]

Scott,
90% plus of voters will only consider the top two parties because they have made government and politics into a game and they want their team to win. That is why all the funding goes to the two parties, why the biggest enemies to third parties are the big two, why we don't get rid of our outdated electoral process, why we don't see serious campaign reform, and why there are dozens and dozens of ballot access impediments. Much like monopolies in any realm they can afford to put obstacles that can be substituted with money thus limiting any kind of competition. As institutions become larger they become less accountable and the two biggest institutions in the US are the republican and democratic parties, which have been the duopoly since the civil war.

[Todd Juvinall]

BenE, tell us which system in use today on the planet is the one you think is the one we should use.

[Account Deleted]

re Ben's post at 6:49: I think you mean the 99% - not 90% plus. And that's apparently what they want. How can you be against them? Gasp - Paul! Are you part of the evil 1%? Ha Ha
The political parties aren't monopolies. I can freely chose to vote with or against them any time. What obstacles are you referring to? I am aware of the games they play and how they want to further rob me to finance their elections. As I recall, that would be a left wing plan.

[George Rebane]

Our two main parties do have a duopoly in the political arena, and I have no doubt that they have been in a more/less stable position as kings on the hill. I don't see a significant chance of change until someone besides a small group of economic watchers (that includes me) will declare that we are in Depression2. Right now, I feel very lonely but no less certain in holding this view. When Depression2 is declared, then we will definitely see a 'Man on a White Horse' Party emerge while entering a new level of polarization that will make us recall these as the days of harmony.

[Todd Juvinall]

I am fascinated by the political process we have created in America. When we look at other countries around the planet we see variations of governance by people of totally different makeups. The people are unhappy no matter who is in charge it appears to me *I think that is in human DNA). Look at Russia this week. I recall when Yeltsin stood on the tank the Russians were ready to proceed with a democracy but as we see they ended up with a hard assed Gorbacehv type. We were told the Russian were missing Stalin since he kept the trains running (but not the bread in queses). The Russians wanted a hardass we were told. Well, they have the chance to change their country but I think the long knives will emerge and try to maintain the "democratic" dictatorship. What it boils down to is stability. If things are stable the people will accept a dictator. If they are unstable then the people throw everything into the bag of government and see what gets pulled out. Usually the people with guns.

[Douglas Keachie]

This is just a test, please ignore. Curious to see if I can get an image to post in the commenting sections;

href="http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54f86f2ad88330162fd8a4a7e970d-pi">

[Douglas Keachie]

Is there a correct procedure for doing this, George?

[Douglas Keachie]

This is also just a test, please ignore.

[George Rebane]

DougK - it looks like you cracked the code for comment images on TypePad. The service claims to look for and execute HTML code in all its comment literal strings. I have posted images in comments here before, but didn't know whether that type of parsing was limited to account holders or everyone. You've answered that question.

[Douglas Keachie]

I suspect you may have a toggle to limit it George. The spot where I discovered some of this suggested that there may be a limit at 375 x 375. although you obviously have images much larger.