Smoke & Mirrors

38.5 billion dollars cut from the budget – that’s the budget deal that the Republicans cut with Democrats last Friday night to pay for the rest of FY11. This is well short of the 100 billion dollar cut that they promised to the Tea Party last year and even short of the “prorated” amount of 61 billion. Yet, the Republicans are breaking their arms slapping themselves on the back in congratulations. This by itself would not cause consternation except that the media has been joining in the “celebration.”

The media is no friend of the GOP. Why would the media tout this as a huge GOP victory? Why are the Democrats celebrating as well? Could it be that the GOP got duped? Or, could it be that we are being duped?

We, as a nation, are swimming in a pool of red ink. The government continues to print money and write checks that it can’t cash. Our economy, though better by a hair than it was 2 years ago, is still limping along and is far from recovering. Unemployment is still in double-digits despite government claims that it has dropped to 8.8%. 8.8% comes from the creative accounting methods being used to discount the unemployed that have stopped seeking employment. We haven’t gained enough of the lost jobs to have recovered nearly 2% in the past 2 years. The bottom line is that the government needs to tighten its belt like never before because there isn’t enough money out there to loot from the masses like they typically do.

So what exactly was in this 38.5 billion dollars in budget cuts that convinced the Democrats to agree to it? The GOP proposed to defund NPR and PBS and the EPA but those are apparently still funded under this budget. The GOP proposed to cut funding to Planned Parenthood and that is apparently still funded (except in DC.) So what did get cut?

According to the Wall Street Journal (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/02/09/house-gop-spending-cuts-the-list/), there were 70 line items that were subject to cuts. The EPA was cut but not defunded. Planned Parenthood was cut but not defunded. So there were cuts, but no defunding efforts. The other thing that is disturbing about this budget is that it actually adds new spending. The WSJ article also does not detail “cuts” of funds that were not going to be spent anyway, like for the salaries of various Obama czars.

In this light, it is easy to understand why the media and the Democrats are cheerleading for the GOP. It all smacks of doublethink. This may work for the Democrats’ constituency but I don’t think that the Tea Party and other conservatives will be fooled by the attempted misdirection. These times are too critical to play these Orwellian games.

The focus now needs to be on Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget and the raising of the debt ceiling. I believe that since Congressman Ryan’s budget has been out there for all to see for a week or two now, the GOP should resort to forcing it down the Dems’ throats in the same manner that the Dems forced Obamacare down their throats. And tie it to the debt ceiling. If they want the debt ceiling raised, make them accept the Ryan budget as is – no debate. Raising the debt ceiling won’t be as heinous if we make the draconian cuts necessary to bring us to a balanced budget and start paying off the debt instead of incurring new debt.

Don’t blink this time, Boehner. We are watching. And if you punt this one, it won’t matter who gets elected in 2012 because we’re done.