Will defense spending be cut? The answer is probably not. Why? There are several reasons. One is that we want to keep the US Empire intact. This is done by keeping troops in foreign countries, maintaining aircraft carrier fleets, maintaining submarines, keeping both an obsolete (look at the B-52) air force that continues to develop weapons for a war never fought. Also there are too many congress critters whose districts benefit from military funding of bases or projects in their districts. Want to lose your seat in congress, then vote for a measure that kills jobs in your district/state.
Only social programs are left to be cut. The attack on social programs starts with a name change from social programs to entitlements. Is being paid for work done an entitlement? Most people do not think of earned income as an entitlement. Is collecting interest on Treasury Bonds an entitlement? Again most people don’t call interest an entitlement. Entitlement is used pejoratively. Sadly, everyone including Obama Pledges Entitlement Reform. Will he do this in his state of the union address? I don’t know. Just remember before the inauguration
President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare "bargain" with the American people, saying that the nation's long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs.
That discussion will begin next month, Obama said, when he convenes a "fiscal responsibility summit" before delivering his first budget to Congress. He said his administration will begin confronting the issues of entitlement reform and long-term budget deficits soon after it jump-starts job growth and the stock market.
Job growth was never jump started, though the stock market was. To be accurate job decline (remember the bikini curve) was blunted and eventually became virtually zero, but job growth is nonexistent. Guess what? There is a belief by President Obama and people in his administration and elsewhere that job growth has been jump started. I have yet to see any evidence of this. Yeah unemployment may be reduced in December, but only because of the importance of the Christmas retail season. As soon as the season ends, those hired will again be unemployed. So the numbers will look better for December and then return to their old levels in January.
This sets the stage for entitlement reform. Guess what, the deficit isn’t going to disappear through higher taxes or defense budget cuts and that leaves social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans services. Whether or not President Obama announces this in the state of the union is irrelevant. This is all that is left.
Comments are closed on this story.