Some Budget Critiquing

A rather... fair....ish.... critique of the President's budget from PostPartisan.

The amazing thing about the budget debate is how easily mainstream press coverage is steered toward the conversation our two major political parties prefer to have, as opposed to the debate the country needs. This week, the stenographic coverage our "leaders" count on features the administration's proposed $1.1 trillion in ten years deficit reduction versus the House Republicans' battles to shave up to $100 billion from this year's spending. Any independent look at what the parties are proposing would instead result in screaming headlines like these:

-ADMINISTRATION PROPOSES 1 PERCENT CUT IN PLANNED SPENDING OVER NEXT TEN YEARS: Plan to Trim $400 billion of $45 Trillion Weirdly Touted By President As "Walking The Walk On Fiscal Discipline"

-OBAMA CALLS FOR $7.2 TRILLION IN NEW BORROWING OVER NEXT DECADE: By 2021, Would Double National Debt Accumulated Between Nation's Founding and 2010

-PUNY DEFENSE TRIMS HYPED AS BIG DEAL: Gates Plan to Shave 2 Percent Off Next $3.5 Trillion in Pentagon Spending Somehow Mutes Critics; U.S. To Still Spend Vastly More On Arms Than Rest Of World Combined

-WHITE HOUSE TOUTS EDUCATION "INVESTMENTS" THAT ACCOMPLISH LITTLE COMPARED TO NEED: "Expanded" Pell Grants Cover Much Smaller Portion of Tuition Than They Did in 1970s; Tiny 'Race To The Top' Sequel Assures 'Small Ball' On Schools for Rest of President's Term

-FEDERAL INTEREST EXPENSE TO QUADRUPLE FROM $207 BILLION TO $844 BILLION A DECADE FROM NOW; Amount Diverted to Unproductive Use Could Have Funded Serious American Renewal Agenda
-ROSY SCENARIO LETS WHITE HOUSE CLAIM DEFICIT WILL STABILIZE AT 3 PERCENT OF GDP; Administration's Growth Assumptions Exceed Private Forecasters', But Make Numbers Work Politically

Of course, the charades are bipartisan:

-GOP DEBT KING STILL CALLING KETTLE BLACK: Paul Ryan, Whose 'Roadmap' Doesn't Balance Budget for Decades and Adds $62 Trillion In Debt, Still Dubbed "Fiscal Conservative" As He Slams Obama For Spending, Debt

-DEFICIT REVEALED AS MOSTLY REVENUE, NOT SPENDING PROBLEM; Obama Plan to Run Government at 22.7 Percent Of GDP vs. Reagan's 22 Percent, But With Older Population Confirms That Taxes Must Rise To Balance Budget As Boomers Age

I say fair-ish. Why? Well, it's true stuff. I put the "ish" on because it's obvious that the negotiations over Social Security and Medicare aren't happening until some later point in this year. Still though, the writer is exactly correct. The budget is modest on the President's part, and the GOP's "fiscal conservative" and stammering that we "don't have a revenue problem" are just wrong. Well written, and fair.