Come on, Republicans, talk straight about the budget.

Well, the word is out. We have this grand budget plan that Republicans insisted on before they would raise the debt ceiling that holds budget increases to 7 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, with most of the increases front loaded. It’s sickening.

Here’s the way to tell when we have leaders that are serious about limiting the size of government, and that is if they’re willing to speak plainly about budget numbers.

If the proposed budget had merely frozen spending at existing levels, the Congressional Budget Office would score it as 9 1/2 trillion dollars in cuts. So, when they increase spending by 7 trillion, they call it a 2 1/2 trillion dollar cut. “Well, we were planning to increase spending 9 1/2 trillion. So that’s 2 1/2 trillion less than we were planning.” Why do they speak like this? To make us think that they’re cutting while they continue to grow the government. That’s the deception that Congress calls “baseline budgeting,” a gimmick that they’ve used for years.

And then there’s the 10-year budget gimmick. Even with the phony 2 1/2 trillion dollars in make-believe cuts, only 2 billion is in the first year. The rest of the budget is subject to the discretion of future congresses.

So here’s the bottom line. They were planning to grow the budget and the national debt by 9.5 trillion dollars over ten years. They have slowed that pace to 9.48 trillion (taking the 2 billion dollars of real budget slowing and extrapolating that to ten years). And they’re calling it a great victory. Give me a break.

Give me a presidential candidate who says “cut” and means “cut.” Give me a Speaker of the House and a Senate Majority Leader who speak the same way. Anything less is just another politician who is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Have enough respect for me that you will talk straight.



About mesasmiles

By Dr. David Hall. Dr. Hall runs Infinity Dental Web, a small company that does Internet marketing for dentists. He has had a long-standing interest in politics and as a college student toyed with the idea of a political career.
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