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311 lines
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<xml><p>
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The following discussion of our country's budget crisis was
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taken from a Reader's Digest Feb. 91 issue. It was written
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by Fred Barnes. It is to be taken very seriously...</p>
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<p> Dirty Secrets Behind the Budget Mess.</p>
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<p>During last year's budget crisis, Rep. Harris Fawell
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(R.,Ill.) had a helpful idea. Why not slash unnecessary
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spending Congress had planned for itself? On the floor of
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the House, Fawell proposed an amendment cutting $375000 for
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renovations to the House beauty parlor and $25000 for a
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study on a proposed gym for House staffers.</p>
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<p>Fawell was shouted down and labeled a sexist for targeting
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the unprofitable, taxpayer-subsidized beauty parlor. House
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Democratic leaders arranged a non-recorded vote so no one
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could be blamed for killing the amendment.</p>
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<p>In a federal budget of nearly $1.4 trillion, the money saved
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by Fawell's modest proposal would have been insignificant.
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But the episode reflects an enduring truth: despite pious
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talk, Congress continues to spend taxpayer's money at a
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furious clip, and the executive branch usually goes along
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willingly. What's more, they go to extraordinary lengths to
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deny it.</p>
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<p>When the five-year "deficit reduction" agreement was reached
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last fall, officials claimed $42 billion in savings. That's
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a sham!!! What they didn't mention-and the press didn't
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report-is that actual spending will INCREASE by $111
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billion, or $480 for every man, woman & child in the nation.
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Worse, the deficit, according to governments own official
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figures, will grow larger.</p>
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<p>On the very day the deal to curb the deficit was forged,
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Congress voted to increase social-welfare spending this year
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by $22.6 billion, The five-year deal includes $136 billion
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in additional funds for non-defense discretionary programs.
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Mandatory outlays for Social Security and Medicare will rise
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more than $200 billion.</p>
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<p>A culture of spending dominates our national capital. An
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"iron triangle" of the unelected-executive branch
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bureaucrats, Congressional committee staffers, special
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interest lobbyists-aggressively protects each program and
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pushes unrelentingly for more. Members of Congress believe
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spending helps them get re-elected. With few exceptions,
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agency heads appointed by the President regard greater
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outlays as a measure of their success.</p>
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<p>In four years as Education Secretary, William Bennett
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learned this the hard way. At first he loyally defended
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President Reagan's proposed cuts. He found himself nearly
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alone among Cabinet members. Over the next two years, he was
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attacked by educators, reviled by his own bureaucrats and
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overruled by Congress. In 1987 Bennett rebelled and insisted
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on a boost in spending. "There was no political gain in
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ruthless cutting," a Bennett aide says. "You could be a
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reformer but not a cutter."</p>
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<p>Official Washington has created a myth to justify higher
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spending in the 1990s. As Sen. Robert Byrd (D.,W.Va.) puts
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it, domestic discretionary spending is the "little runt pig"
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on the federal budget that has been on the cutting table for
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years. It hasn't. Domestic spending was trimmed in 1982,
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then grew rapidly during the next eight years. Outlays for
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many programs rose substantially, including education for
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the handicapped (50%), National Institute of Health (47%),
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National Science Foundation (36%), medical care for veterans
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(25%) and Environmental Protection Agency (22%).</p>
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<p>The biggest problem on Capital Hill, says Rep. Dick Armey
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(R.,Texas), is "the committee mystique." Members from
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farming areas angle to get on the Agriculture Committee.
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Those from port cities join the Merchant Marine and
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Fisheries Committee. Those eager to keep military bases in
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their district hope to serve on the Armed Services
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Committee.</p>
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<p>There's a tacit rule: to get what you want, you go along
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with what other committee members want. And it's taboo to
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challenge the programs of another committee. "You don't want
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them challenging yours," says Rep. Tim Penny (D., Minn.), a
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leader for deficit reduction.</p>
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<p>Rep. Vin Weber (R., Minn.) a conservative who believes in
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spending reductions, was happy to leave the Budget
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Committee, which cuts, and join the Appropriations
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Committee, which spends. Weber had discovered Washington's
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dirty little secret: cutting is a political minus.</p>
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<p>Chairmen of the appropriations subcommittees retaliate when
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they're crossed. After Fawell criticized nonessential
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spending in an "emergency" appropriations bill last year,
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extra funding for a project in his district was deleted.
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When Rep. Clay Shaw (R., Fla.) voted against the wishes of
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Rep. William Lehman (D., Fla.), a subcommittee chairman,
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Lehman scratched $1 million in funding for a tunnel in
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Shaw's district.</p>
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<p>Budget watchdogs such as Penny and Rep. Bob Walker (R., Pa.)
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are treated like pariahs. "A large number of colleagues
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wouldn't come to dinner at my home," Penny says. An
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Appropriations Committee member once remarked of Walker:
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"The only cement that will ever be poured in Walker's
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district is that around his feet when we throw him in the
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river."</p>
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<p>"in a corporation, everything is geared toward minimizing
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overhead," says Mark Everson, a Chicago manufacturer who was
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a top official in three Washington agencies from 1982 to
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1988. "In government, almost nothing is." Like many others,
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Everson discovered another of Washington's dirty budget
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secrets. Instead of being rewarded, officials who make
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economy a top priority can count on being criticized by
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Congress, jumped on by lobbyists and undermined by
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bureaucrats in their own agencies.</p>
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<p>When Charles Heatherly became head of the Small Business
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Administration (SBA) in 1986, the agency was facing $345
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million in bad loans. Heatherly was hauled before a
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Congressional committee-but not for the bad loans. His
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transgression was trying to streamline the SBA by
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jettisoning failed programs. A phalanx on interest groups-the National Small Business Association, Small Business
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United and the American Association of Minority Enterprise
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Small Business Investment Companies-weighed in against him.
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To SBA bureaucrats, Heatherly was the enemy. "Not one of
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them came to me at SBA and said, 'We're with you on this.
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What can we do to help?'" Heatherly says.</p>
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<p>Because the big spenders presented a united front and
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taxpayers made little noise, the SBA was kept alive and
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spared further budget cuts. "The iron triangle worked," says
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Heatherly.</p>
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<p>Sometimes the triangle can be very clever. For fiscal year
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1991, the Senate and House would have agreed to a smaller
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appropriation for the SBA. The Senate voted to give the
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agency $440 million; the House voted $438 million. But the
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Senate-House conference did not come up with a compromise
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figure you might expect, $439 million. Instead, it pegged
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SBA spending at $469.5 million.</p>
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<p>This upward compromise is but one trick Washington employs
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to create the illusion of spending reduction. Here are seven
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others:</p>
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<p>ARTIFICIAL BASE LINES</p>
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<p>Imagine a company president who hopes for a $100000 pay
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increase. Instead he receives a $75000 hike, and then he
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claims a $25000 pay cut. Crazy? in Washington it's routine.</p>
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<p>Rather than use this year's level of spending as the
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starting point for next year's budget, an artificial "base
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line" is created, the effect of which is automatic spending
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increases every year. Then, if proposed outlays are less
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than the base line, Washington claims a "cut"-even though
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spending actually rises.</p>
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<p>That's what is happening now. The base-line budget for the
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current fiscal year originally called for spending to rise
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$130.8 billion. But because it will go up "only" $111
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billion, Congress and the White House insist spending was
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cut by $19.8 billion. With a projected revenue increase of
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$22.2 billion, they claim a total "savings" of $42 billion.</p>
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<p>OFF-BUDGET SPENDING</p>
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<p>Last year, Congress "reduced the deficit" $2 billion by
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dropping the Postal Service subsidy from the official
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budget. The subsidy was still paid, only it was done off-budget. Off-budget programs include direct loans, loan
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guarantees, federal insurance and government enterprises.</p>
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<p>Of course, real money is involved whether or not a program
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is formally in the budget. In 1989, loan defaults and write-offs were $14.4 billion and insurances losses $67.2 billion,
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all picked up by the taxpayer. The total liability of
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taxpayers for off-budget programs is almost $6 TRILLION, or
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$67000 for every U.S. household.</p>
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<p>FAKE CEILINGS</p>
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<p>With great fanfare and self-congratulation, legislators
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established spending ceilings. Then these limits were
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quietly ignored.</p>
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<p>The original Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction law of 1985
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called for gradually declining deficits. The first ceiling,
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for 1986, was topped by $49.3 billion. In 1987 the law was
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changed, and the deficit was supposed to have dwindled to
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$100 billion in 1990. It was $220 billion. Now Washington
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projects declining deficits in 1993 and 1994. Good Luck...!</p>
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<p>UNDERESTIMATING</p>
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<p>In 1983, Congress approved $8 billion to build a space
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station. By 1987 the price was $12 billion. Now it's $36
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billion. Agriculture Department economists said the 1985
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farm bill would cost $54 billion. A month later, after the
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bill was passed, the estimate was upped to $85 billion.</p>
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<p>"There's a generic pattern ," says Congressional staffer
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Frank Gregorsky. "Once the legislation is passed, once the
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various clients are mobilized, once the bureaucracy is
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engaged, once the contractors start marking up-expenditures
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overshoot the promised levels." Spenders get their foot in
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the door by underestimating the costs of new programs.</p>
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<p>"EMERGENCY" APPROPRIATIONS</p>
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<p>In recent years, emergency appropriation bills have become
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vehicles for pork-barrel spending.</p>
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<p>Last year President Bush asked for "dire emergency"
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appropriation to pay for flood relief in the South and aid
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to Panama. Congress tacked on another $1.4 billion-including
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$3 million for a convention center in Washington, D.C. $5.8
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million for a Franklin Roosevelt memorial and $750000
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toward a ferryboat for American Samoa.</p>
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<p>TRANSFERS</p>
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<p>A clever way to increase a discretionary program is to
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switch funds into it from an entitlement program, which has
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no ceiling and thus requires no new appropriation.</p>
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<p>"A classic abuse of transfer authority," note budget experts
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John Cogan and Tim Muris, was the shift of food-stamps into
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the Agriculture Department's extension service. The
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Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS)
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supposedly suffered a cut of $300 million in real spending
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between 1981 and 1989. Actually, funds were transferred from
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the Commodity Credit Corporation, which pays for farm price
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supports. ASCS spending actually ROSE by one third.</p>
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<p>EARMARKING</p>
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<p>Last year alone, Sen. Dale Bumpers (D., Ark.) says an
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appropriations committee got 2800 requests from other
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Senators to designate funds for projects in their home
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states. During the 1990 budget "crisis", Rep. Walker pointed
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out ten research projects that were sneaked into the Energy
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Department's budget and deserved cutting. One allocated $4.8
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million to a technology center at Indiana State University
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in the district of Rep. John Myers (R., Ind.). Funds for it
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and the other projects Walker cited were overwhelmingly
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approved.</p>
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<p>In Washington, D.C., where there are no farms, $1 million
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was appropriated for the Agriculture Extension Service. Also
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approved was $500000 to restore the boyhood home of
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bandleader Lawrence Welk in Strasburg, N.D. This expenditure
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was sought by Sen. Quentin Burdick (D., N.D.). It prompted
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Rep. Silvio Conte (R., Mass.) to say: "That is right-and a
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one, and a two, and a three, and a four, and a $500000.
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What will they do for an encore? Earmark funds to renovate
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Guy Lombardo's speedboat? Or restore Artie Shaw's wedding
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tuxedo?" Despite Conte's ridicule and criticism by President
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Bush, the Welk project was not killed.</p>
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<p>Even the defense budget is used for earmarking. Tucked into
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the 1991 Pentagon budget was $5 million to build a new
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parliament building in the Solomon Islands and $10 million
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for a National Drug Intelligence Center that federal
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official wanted in Washington. Not surprisingly, the drug
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intelligence center will be located in the home state of
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Rep. John Murtha (D., Pa.), chairman of the House
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Appropriations defense subcommittee.</p>
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<p>Political scientist James Payne, an expert on government
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spending, measured the ratio of those witnesses at
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Congressional hearings who testified for spending programs
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to those who testified against. His finding: pro-spenders
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outnumber opponents by 145 to one. Payne also found that
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roughly half the pro-spending witnesses are federal
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administrators and another ten percent are state and local
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officials. It's only human nature that they'd have kind
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words for their own programs and ask for more money.</p>
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<p>When will the spending binge cease? Not until taxpayers rise
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up. THIS MEANS YOU!!! "Congress is going to go on spending
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until the public stops them," laments Walker. "Politicians
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respond to special-interest groups," says Penny. "They've
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been forgetting there's a general interest group-taxpayers."
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It's time for taxpayers to remind them.</p>
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<p>X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X</p>
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<p> Another file downloaded from: NIRVANAnet(tm)</p>
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<p> & the Temple of the Screaming Electron Jeff Hunter 510-935-5845
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The Salted Slug Strange 408-454-9368
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408-363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 415-567-7043
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 415-583-4102
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Tomorrow's 0rder of Magnitude Finger_Man 415-961-9315
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My Dog Bit Jesus Suzanne D'Fault 510-658-8078
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New Dork Sublime Demented Pimiento 415-566-0126</p>
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