02/05/08/:Bush Budget to Nowhere!

GOOD MORNING FLINT !
Date 02/05/08
By Terry Bankert http://attorneybankert.com/

Posted full article first to Flint Talk THEN summarized, for discussion,

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also posted to: Full article at Google blog Good Morning Flint,
http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/

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George W. Bush presents :BUDGET TO NOWHERE.[F]

Now George, here you go again.[trb]

Despite his pledges to curb government spending, President Bush will exit the White House next year leaving behind an eye-popping federal deficit that tops $400 billion. And that's just one of the shocking revelations in the president's $3.1 trillion budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2009, which the White House unveiled Monday. [F]

It was embarrassing to watch him in the State of the Union. Now this budget travisty will tell the world we are not willing to take care of our problems.[trb]When it comes to President Bush's new $3 trillion budget blueprint for 2009, one thing is almost certain: It's going to get changed. Probably a lot. [CSM]

No coaltion that backs this president can get his budget passed.[trb]

The American economy is kept from collapsing by the investment of other nations, sovereign nation. The republican president has put forward a budget that cannot be balanced. Its time in American for a new negative title: CONSERVATIVE.

Being a conservative is now a title to avoid in American because the conservative have taken away from America its dignity, reputation and its wealth .[trb]

The Iraq war, alone, has consumed 440 billion dollars,[CV]

How many poor could have been educated with this money. How many kids could have gone to college with this money. How many sick who have died could have lived with this money?[trb]


Bush is leaving his successor an enormous fiscal dilemma. The deficit numbers will mean pressure to allow some tax cuts to expire, especially the 35 percent bracket for wealthy taxpayers, which will revert to 39.6 percent at the end of 2010 unless renewed. Pressure from Wall Street to trim the deficit may cause even Democrats to go after the spiraling growth of Medicare and the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled.[AP#1]

Change will come to this Bush Budget.[trb]

In part that's because events may intervene. The economy could be falling into recession, with unpredictable fiscal results. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will probably cost far more than the $70 billion allotted them in Mr. Bush's plan. [CSM]

But politics is the main reason why Uncle Sam's actual '09 spending and taxing policies will probably end up so differently from the way the president proposes. Bush is a lame duck, with less power to get his way. A new chief executive – be they Republican or Democratic – will have different policy priorities. [CSM]

Health experts denounced President George W. Bush's 2009 federal budget request on Monday, calling it a disaster for the health of Americans and saying they would look to Congress to change it.[R]

...how it is that President Bush inherited a budget surplus when he entered office in 2001, yet will leave next year having added trillions of dollars to the national debt.... the United States has suffered terrorist attacks and natural disasters that necessitated more government spending than Mr. Bush envisioned when he came to Washington....one key to long term fiscal health is to control the costs of entitlement spending in Social Security and government medical programs. ... the president's budget does not cut entitlement spending. Rather..., it trims growth to a level the nation can afford, while also limiting other domestic spending. [VA]

WHAT DOES MACKINAW ISLAND AND GEORGE BUSH HAVE IN COMMON ? THEY FUDGE EVERYTHING.[TRB]

George Bush released his annual budget plan today, prompting disdain from congressional Democrats who chastised the president for again fudging the costs of the Iraq war and tax cuts in order to claim he could erase the US deficit. [GU]

The Bush budget will not keep us from harms way.[trb]

"The budget fails to protect America's families from pandemics and terrorist attacks, by cutting key programs that invest in America's hospitals."[R]

Bush's final budget request is perhaps the unofficial start of the "lame-duck" portion of his presidency. There will be a protracted battle over spending issues during this election year, when lawmakers like to ruffle as few feathers as possible. [F]

Bush's lame-duck budget plan is likely to be ignored by Congress, which is controlled by Democrats and already looking ahead to November elections. His long-term projections are mostly academic since he's leaving office next January.[AP#!]

"Today's budget blueprint would have a disastrous impact on the health care that millions of patients and families depend on," said Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association. [R]

"At a time when physicians are in short supply, this budget calls for cuts to teaching hospitals that prepare tomorrow's physicians. At a time when our economy is faltering, this budget cuts hospitals serving some of America's poorest patients," he said in a statement.[R]


The Bush administration has unveiled a federal budget for the next year that emphasizes spending to boost national security and spur the economy while reining in costs for government medical assistance programs. VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, the proposed 2009 budget is getting a chilly reception in the Democratically-controlled Congress, which must approve the plan.[VA]


The total amount Bush requested for defense affairs reached 585.4 billion dollars, compared to the 668.6 billion dollars that the administration has demanded for the current 2008 fiscal year, including 479. 5 billion dollars in Defense Department spending and 189.1 billion dollars for war costs. [CV]

3.1 TRILLION DOLLAR BUDGET!

How many zeros is that?[trb]


The $3.1 trillion budget would increase US military spending for the 11th straight year while slicing about $200bn from the social security and Medicare programs that aid older Americans. The budget deficit under Bush's proposal would balloon to $410bn this year - more than twice as much as 2007 - before achieving balance in 2012. [GU]

President Bush's fiscal year 2009 budget totals a record $3.1 trillion, more than 20 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and more than the entire GNP of the world's third largest national economy, Germany. It projects a short term spike in the federal deficit to more than $400 billion but envisions eliminating the deficit by 2012.[VA]

The president also asked for an "emergency allowance" of 70billion dollars to cover the war costs in the first six months after the 2009 fiscal year starts on Oct. 1, 2008. [CV]

BUSH ALREADY DOUBTS HIS ESTIMATE OF WAR COSTS [TRB]

That claim of a balanced budget hinges on only $70bn in spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, an estimate that even White House aides acknowledge they will exceed during the next fiscal year.[GU]

The Bush budget also fails to account for the growth of the alternative minimum tax, which Congress must adjust every year to avoid leaving middle-class Americans with a huge tax bill. By contrast, Bush assumes that the Democrats who control Congress would cement his legacy by permanently extending individual and corporate tax cuts, which are likely to expire for the wealthiest taxpayers. [GU]

BUSH LIED TO AMERICANS, AGAIN![TRB ]

Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid, leading a chorus of alarm in his party, called the Bush budget "fiscally irresponsible and highly deceptive". [GU]

"In the face of a looming recession, the president's budget does nothing to strengthen our economy, and fails to respond to the real problems facing middle-class families," the Democrat said in a statement. [GU]

Barack Obama, hoping to win the Democrats' presidential nod this spring, used the budget's rosy projection of indefinite tax cuts to hammer the Republicans' likely nominee. [GU]

McCAIN will borrow against our future to win an election, don’t tell me he is a saint, he’s not![trb]

"The fact that John McCain, who once opposed these tax cuts, now embraces them, tells the American people all they need to know about the choice they face in this election," Obama said through a spokesman.[GU]

The presidential budget traditionally serves as a guide for Congress in its decisions over spending levels for government programmes. But Democrats have neither willingness nor compelling reason to meet Bush halfway during his last year in office. The majority party is likely to set separate priorities, focusing more on social programmes than the White House. [GU]

REPUBLICANS THINK BUSH IS OUT TO LUNCH.[TRB]

Revealing the extent of Bush's diminished political capital, even members of his own party gave the budget little credence. Judd Gregg, the senior Republican on the Senate budget committee, released a statement that pointed out where the president fell short. [GU]

"Any budget, to be effective, needs to address the unsustainable growth of entitlement spending, which is the single biggest factor contributing to the long-term fiscal crisis we face," Gregg said. "A budget also needs to honestly address the numbers contributing to its bottom line, such as fully funding the expected costs of the war on terror."[GU]

Presidential budgets are normally hefty documents. This year, for the first time, Mr. Bush is sending out the budget in electronic form that members of Congress and the nation can read online. [VA]
SEE:
http://origin.www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/browse.html

"Today's budget bears all the hallmarks of the Bush legacy — it leads to more deficits, more debt, more tax cuts, more cutbacks in critical services," said House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C.[AP#1]

In an echo of a past policy failure, Bush has proposed that Social Security be reformed to allow workers to use up to 4% of their Social Security earnings to fund personal retirement accounts. The contributions, which would begin in 2013, would be capped at $1,400 per worker during the first year and would be allowed to gradually increase until 2018.[F]

—what is this stuff---
[GU]
Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2252464,00.html#article_continue

[CSM]
Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0205/p01s01-usec.html

[VA]
Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-02-04-voa42.cfm
UNITED STATE BUDGET
http://origin.www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy09/browse.html

[AP#!]
Associated Press
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlkG9t2Z4m8UfIya6iQ3-TfTPhRwD8UJO7V80



[R]
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0459986820080204
[CV]
China View
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/05/content_7569827.htm

[F]
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/02/04/bush-budget-congress-biz-beltway-cx_bw_0204budget_writethru.html
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Posted here by Terry Bankert 2/3/08
http://attorneybankert.com/

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