Drunken Sailors: Part 12 - This word: discretion.
posted by CS | 4:00 PM 
From the CATO Institute's "what's new" page today:
I'll remind you what Alan Greenspan recently said of our spending:
Bush Beats LBJ on SpendingThis word: discretion. m-w.com gives a couple of salient definitions. The one which is intended in the phrase "discretionary spending" is:
In the latest Cato Tax and Budget Bulletin, Stephen Slivinski uses revised data released during the summer by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to make side-by-side comparisons of the spending habits of each president during the last 40 years. While the data show that all presidents presided over net increases in spending, George W. Bush is shown to be one of the biggest spenders of them all, even outpacing Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.
An excerpt from the report: "The increase in discretionary spending - that is, all nonentitlement programs - in Bush's first term was 48.5 percent in nominal terms. That's more than twice as large as the increase in discretionary spending during Clinton's entire two terms (21.6 percent), and just higher than Lyndon Johnson's entire discretionary spending spree (48.3 percent)."
power of free decision or latitude of choice within certain legal boundsBut I think the one far more appropriate as of late is:
ability to make responsible decisionsWe can debate whether Bush and the Congress are acting "within certain legal bounds", but I don't think anyone can take the serious position that the selfsame powers that be can be thought to be acting in such a way as evidence of their ability to make responsible decisions.
I'll remind you what Alan Greenspan recently said of our spending:
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told France's Finance Minister Thierry Breton the United States has "lost control" of its budget deficit, the French minister said Saturday.
"'We have lost control,' that was his expression," Breton told reporters after a bilateral meeting with Greenspan.
"The United States has lost control of their budget at a time when racking up deficits has been authorized without any control (from Congress)," Breton said.
3 Comments:
True. I'm no economist, but I know we've had a lot of big bills lately--$X billion for Iraq, $X billion for Hurricane Katrina, $X million/billion for tsunami and earthquake victims...etc. However, these few expenses add up fast. Not that we shouldn't be charitable with others in need, but we ought to get things straightened out at home and figure out what we really need, especially if we're going to be in a war for a while. [Of course, saying that might nix my own job if they decided to cut the "extras." :)]
here are some interesting charts showing the vast increases in "discretionary" spending.
and here is a good article (12 page pdf file) researching how loose fiscal policy fueled the current budget situation under Republicans.
In my view, Bush has a naive view of supply-side economics - at least on a macroscopic level. He has been expecting (it would seem) ridiculous levels of growth to fuel a concomitant growth in federal receipts (taxes). It ain't happened - and it ain't gonna - any time soon. We are way too in over our heads (in debt) to get ourselves out with growth. Growth will help, but only if our creditors see our seriousness to pay down (dare I say "off"?) our debt.
queen_spoo and spoomonger together owe our creditors at least $160,000. That is current on-the-books federal debt only. That doesn't even count unfunded future debts (entitlements).
If I come into a large inheritance, I will consider paying off your share of the national debt. Until then, good luck. :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home