Or happy new year, or happy valentines day, or St. Patrick's day, or Easter, or Memorial day, etc.. This is a perfect example for the thread about being a Republican. In the minds of a Democrat there is always a reason for not ending a government program.
There are dozens if not hundreds of government programs I wouldn't mind ending. Making sure people have money for food at Christmastime ain't one of 'em.
The latest appropriations bill would do just fine without the following pork (I've decided to ignore your "one-time" expenditure rule because it ignores most pork-barrel spending and is stupid): $3 million for "First Tee," a Florida-based nonprofit program that provides golf instruction to children and teens in 38 states. $50 million to build a giant indoor rainforest in Iowa, at the request of Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. $19.3 million to Marshall University in West Virginia, alma mater of Sen. Robert Byrd, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. $250,000 to Idaho State University to create a "Virtual Idaho Museum of Natural History." $225,000 to repair a swimming pool in Sparks, Nev. $200,000 to the University of Hawaii for a documentary on Kalahari bushmen. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, is a member of the Appropriations Committee. $200,000 to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, chairs a House Appropriations subcommittee. $100,000 to Luverne, Ala., for street furniture and sidewalks.
So you can tick off a bunch off pork, that's no big deal, and it will barely make a dent in the amount of money the Federal government spends. What I'm talking about is a significant change in the scope of the governments invlovement in every aspect of our economy. That is not a "stupid" requirement, that is what it will really take to get our budget balanced.
OK, $78 billion for Iraq. If you think that was a one-time charge, I've got some swampland to sell you. And that park was the tip of the iceberg, my naive friend. There was over $5 billion in pork in the last Pentagon appropriations bill. If we got rid of pork spending at the federal level, if would make a hell of a lot more than a "dent" in federal spending. But I guess since it's your side that doing most of the spending nowadays it's not worth discussing.
Short term memory loss? One thing that would help balance the budget would be to quit giving reckless tax cuts to the rich. If you'll recall, the budget was balanced before your stupid president came up with his stupid ideas to lead you to make the stupid post that cutting programs was a stupid requirement. It's the economy, stupid! Your argument would be less stupid were it not predicted in advance to be exactly what stupid conservatives would say as the next step after passing their stupid tax cuts.
Here are some more examples (from that pinko leftie site foxnews.com) http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,49837,00.html — $62.4 million for commerce projects in Alaska, home of Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Republican Ted Stevens, including $750,000 to prevent Atlantic salmon from escaping state streams and $4 million for sea lion recovery projects. — $23 million in agricultural projects for the state of Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., including $800,000 for imported red fireants. — $268 million in defense projects in the state of Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, including $1 million for an alternative fuel program for the Hickman Air Force Base and $2 million for the state National Guard anti-drug program. — $80 million for energy and water projects in the state of Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., including $7 million for a positron emission tomography facility at West Virginia University. — $78.5 million in labor and health and human services projects in Iowa, home of Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee chairman Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, including $100,000 to encourage children to hold fairs displaying their inventions and $3 million for the Iowa Communications Network. So that's roughly $585 million in pork listed over the last two pages (some or all of these programs may have some intrinsic value but in the days of record deficits sometimes you have to cut some good tissue out with the bad). If that's your idea of "no big deal" then I can't begin to stress how happy I am that you're not in charge of federal budgeting.
Here's one. if you want to discuss government's involvement in every aspect of our economy: How about eliminating federal job training subsidies for companies like McDonald' that pull in over $2k for every new employee to "train" them, even though the ultimate goal of McDonald's (and all fast food joints) is to have a system in place which requires a "zero-training" work force, and even though McDonald's employees routinely quit within 6 months, only to be replaced with another unskilled worker, for whom McDonald's gets to claim another $2k+ in subsidies. Edit: It's actually not a payment, but a tax credit.
Those people can apply with the Republican National Committee to work in India, they have plenty of new jobs there. Now.............. it will be a wage cut and relocation is necessary. Compassionate conservative, YES!
Get a freaking job already. 6 months is plenty of time to find a job. Plus, it's already been extended another 39 months. Trust me, cut the unemployment benefits and watch the rats scurrying back to work. I see it every day, people waiting for their benefits to run out before using the energy to look for work. This will be a vitamin pill for them in the morning.
Amen. Speaking of unemployment, while I'm sure there are some who made no effort to find work until the benefits were about gone, I know plenty out there who worked their ass off to find work from Day 1 and can't/are having tons of trouble. Problem, there ain't a lot of work out there, while the rich get tax benefits. And people wonder why the anti-Bush movement only gets stronger?
Hmm. I'd support most of these projects. What's the problem with a documentary about the Kalahari bushmen? We should increase funding for these types of projects. A good indoor rainforest is worth the money. Check out the one at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. Depending on which kids are getting golf lessons, that could be a good idea. I'd like to see a greater investment in our cultural infrastructure. Most of these expenditures (peanuts, really) sound like fabulous ideas.
These responses prove that the left has no intention whatsoever of attacking the real problems on the spending side of the budget issue. ENTITLEMENTS (unfortunately I'm not sure if the right has any stomach for it any more either) They ignore the problems that are created when the federal government takes money at a high marginal rate from people who create wealth and give it to others in ways that encourages them not to create wealth. If you guys really believe you can balance the budget by removing tax credits (although I would agree with eliminating the McDonalds tax credit) and some pork barrel spending, (if you really think 585 million is a big deal in terms of the Federal budget, then then I can't begin to stress how happy I am that you're not in charge of reducing spending in the federal government) I have som swampland in Florida you might be interested in purchasing.