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WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama warned Tuesday he would veto a spending bill crafted by his Republican foes because its deep cuts risked crippling a tentative economic recovery and harming national security.
"The administration strongly opposes House passage of HR 1," the White House said, warning that if the measure reaches Obama without major changes, "the president will veto the bill."
Good for the GOP House members.
1) For the first time ever, we are seeing Republicans push for deep cuts in defense spending, while Democrats oppose them. WTF? But you know what? The Republicans are right, just as Democrats were right when they wanted to cut defense. There is not excuse for the defense spending we have now, which is bloated beyond all recognition. By making deep cuts, we force the government to make tough choices, and to cut the fat. Bravo for the GOP on that front.
2) Education? During good times, I don't mind a few government outlays, with the goal of keeping America at the forefront of technology. However, these are not good times. We need to concentrate on stopping the fiscal bleeding right now, and as soon as we are on a decent economic footing once again, then we can consider education. But now is not the time. Controversial decision, but I agree with it.
3) Here is where things get a bit dicey. The OMB has estimated that the proposed Republican cut would cost about a million jobs. But I believe that the cuts need to be made. First of all, the government should not be in the business of creating jobs. Let employers do that. Secondly, government job creation is not going to help if we cannot reign in the deficit. Going deeper in debt is going to result in the loss of even more jobs. Better to kill some jobs now with good policy than to kill many more down the road with bad policy.
Many years ago, I said that the chickens would eventually come home to roost if we did not get spending under control. Well, time has borne me out, and the chickens are here. In fact, I suspect that, somewhere, Col. Sanders has a pretty big grin on his face. We simply waited too long to address this problem, and there are now no easy fixes. Whatever is done is going to hurt. We should have heeded the warnings of economists who made this prediction years before. But there should also be no crying over spilt milk. The pain is here, and we are all going to have to deal with it. I suggest that we deal with it in a logical manner, before it gets much worse, which it will if we don't address it now. Now is not the time to bury our heads in the sand and claim that everything is going to be OK. In our present condition, that would amount to fiscal insanity.
Article is here.
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