Federal budget and “blowing holes” in it

As I watch this new generation try to rewrite our history, one thing I’m sure of, it will be misspelled and have no punctuation. 

George Rebane

We have been deficit spending the federal budget for a few generations now.  And the Simple Simons of the land always lay the deficits at the feet of the current administration.  We just had an example of that (here) from local leftwing columnist George Boardman.  It really seems that these people have no idea how federal budgets are manufactured and structured.  Since all appropriation bills must start in the House, the situation becomes a bit complicated when one party doesn’t control both the House and the White House, and even more complex when Senate approval is thrown in.  (more here)

Even thought the budget process normally starts with the President’s submittal to Congress of a recommended budget, it is usually DOA in a House controlled by the opposite party.  What really goes on then is that the House drafts a budget that it dickers with the Senate to go along, and then winds up, hopefully, as a ‘concurrent budget resolution’, which is essentially an outline for spending for the coming year enabled by a sequence of subsequent individual appropriations bills.  The concurrent budget resolution does not need the president’s signature to take effect.  If the two houses can’t agree on a concurrent budget resolution, then Congress has to pass a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government operating at current funding levels.

So with all this going on to have the federal government finally spend through its various departments, bureaus, and agencies – each operating under their own regulatory structures – you really have to be a double dummy to think that the deficit, let alone individual expenditures, are all the president’s doing and fault.  However, in our land of the free, we also enjoy the freedom to be double dummies; there’s no law against it and you can even vote.

At this point we haven’t even come to the major parts of the budget divided into mandatory spending and discretionary spending.  And then there’s the interest on the national debt – the part we must pay ‘the public’ and not merely government paying itself.  Take a look at the figure below.

If we break down the components of discretionary spending, that’s where the real dickering starts.  The Dems have an advantage here because they are the champions of social programs that easily buy favorable votes during elections.  Historically, the Dems would like to push as many of their social programs into the un-sunsetted mandatory category as possible, and then continue to demand an equal share of the next year’s remaining discretionary spending (and, of course, to increase it through higher taxes).  The tension here comes with the Repubs always wanting to reduce taxes while also making sure the US doesn’t fall behind the bad guys militarily – i.e. only the Right wants America to maintain its white hat hegemon position in the world.  Both parties succumb to various forms of corporate and agricultural subsidies.  A breakdown of discretionary spending is shown below.

So now we come to the special events category like Mideast Wars, ‘quantitative easing’ during the recovery from the Great Recession, and Covid Relief spending after the states variously and unnecessarily shut down their economies to create historic levels of unemployment in the land.  These boondoggles costing trillions really did lay waste to our budgets and the national debt.  Do we now stack all of these expenditures solely, or even mostly, on the backs of the presidents in office during those fiscal years?  (For example, Trump was responsible for the China virus and its impact on the country's economy, ergo the subsequent relief spending.)

We have always had two basic ideologies contending for money, added to the natural habit of politicians to indulge in local pork.  One side wants big government to be the end-all of control and the source of largesse, the other side wants small government and open markets, but knows that it has to play along with the spending game in order not to be swept out office by a population that grows more ignorant and dependent with each passing generation.  Anyone with a smidgen of history under their belt knows that this is the real dynamic that determines the levels and directions of federal spending.

When all the budget dust settles, we have 535 congress critters, all jostling each other for credit on the passage of spending bills that they think will promote their re-election chances.  So out in television land, what can we make of these self-aggrandizing worthies who failed high school civics (remember when that was still taught), and are now trying to sound like they know how our government works by pointing to this or that president as having “blown a hole in the budget”?

Comments

[Scott O]

The obverse of the coin here is those who claim we have a deficit because 'the rich' don't pay their fair share. Just as they have no idea of how the money is budgeted and spent, they also have no idea of how the funds are collected to pay for all of this and what percentage of the funds come each societal group.
Let's face it - our society (as a whole) lives beyond it's personal means and wouldn't understand a govt that would attempt to be prudent about its balance sheets.
If the fed govt really started down a path of paying down the debt and having a truly balanced budget the voters would recall every single one of the pols responsible. Or would just shoot them dead.
Expect at some point for the govt to get rid of hard cash. It's their only way out. Well - it at least buys them some more time.

[Steven Frisch]

The fact that George cares about the deficit now is a pretty strong indication that the next President is Joe Biden :)

[Todd Juvinall]

Wasn't it Joe Biden's legislative life as a shill for the credit card companies over the years? Yep. And how many saps are so in debt and paying shyster rates of 25-40 percent interest because of Biden? Sorry to say it but he has screwed the poor slobs of America for most of the 50 years in Congress as the mouthpiece for MBNA and Visa and the rest.

[Gregory]

We should bork Biden.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/betting_odds/2020_president/

[Steven Frisch]

Good luck...

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/2020_elections_electoral_college_map_no_toss_ups.html

[Bill Tozer]

Another mark the tape moment. Steve's chart does not take into consideration that Michigan and PA and WI and even Ilhan Omar's Minn is in play. I wish he did not cancel his lengthy stay this summer in WI. He could have sent us picks oh Steve roasting marshmellows from street faire full of Biden voters.

[Todd Juvinall]

Trump 302 biden the rest. Trump wins again. LOL!

[Gregory]

We should bork Biden.

And today's no toss ups map will not be the reality on Nov 3.

[George Rebane]

StevenF 837am - sure would like to see how you connect the dots on that one.

[D]

Trump wants to pull funding for Stars and Stripes and order Pentagon to close it after poll data is published not in his favor. Yes, you read that right, the Dictator wants to shut down or control all news sources that say bad things about him.

The Pentagon proposed defunding the publication for 2021 in February but the House Appropriations Committee approved the funding for 2021.

Bad new for Trump is published, and presto chango, Trump wants to kill it.

Came across this Tweet this morning, "It’s 2:45 am and the retired Marine who lives behind me just took his Trump sign down, walked it to the street and threw it in the garbage."

[George Rebane]

D 957am - Could you provide a link to the allegation that it was Trump who wanted to pull the funding. Recall that in these pages commenters usually provide some back-up to their assertions - especially the contentious ones.

[scenes]

re: GeorgeR@11:27AM

It isn't like these guys look up anything. I expect that the whole concept of the newspaper is dying and you're just seeing another. There's probably a decade or two worth of fighting over this. I think we can live with D's tweet.

I'll be damned glad when the election is over and I don't have to hear people vomit up imaginary Trump peccadillos anymore.

(2013) https://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/stars-and-stripes-newspaper-defense-cuts-099609
(2013) https://www.foxnews.com/us/stars-and-stripes-forever-pentagon-may-fold-historic-newspaper
(2016) https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2016/04/26/pentagon-funding-cuts-may-silence-stars-and-stripes/
(2013) https://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/sequestration/cuts-to-afn-closing-stars-and-stripes-on-pentagon-budget-table-1.254579

But, ya know...Trump.

[D]

Good News! Trump says Stars and Stripes will not be mothballed even though Trump's 2021 budget did not include funding for the publication, putting it on course to end its 159-year-long run on September 30.

[L]

Keach @ 4:03- Get back to us when it happens, 'k?

[George Rebane]

Can you imagine the naivete of our lefty commenters. The Pentagon omitted funding an item the magnitude of flyshit in the President's budget submittal, and the socialists go ballistic and blame it on him as if he really got into that level of detail on a $4T budget. That's some real serious TDS at work there.