I’ve long since taken a decision to remain mostly quiet about this President’s budget in an election year in which this country cannot afford him to lose. I cannot resist talking about some hypothetical numbers thrown out by the Associated Press.
The deficit is projected to drop from $521-billion in F.Y. 2004 to $363-billion in his F.Y. 2005 budget, then it continues its decline, sinking to $237-billion in 2009.
Natural Resources & Environment spending drops slightly, as do energy and community development spending. Which does not explain where the federal government derives this power to spend $13.2-billion on community development. And why we still have a department of energy with its F.Y. 2005 $3.5-billion budget.
Total Defense spending increases from $393.5-billion to $420.7-billion, which is necessary if that is what we need.
Education spending actually increases from $78-billion to $80.4-billion, and for what? If President Reagan had served with a Republican Congress, this would no longer be a problem. He had the vision to see that this department was a waste of time, effort, and money.
In an election year, however, doing it my way would dramatically increase the chances that one of those clowns would be elected, and again, we cannot afford that.
