Federal Budget B. S.

There is a basic element of deceit that is a part of every discussion about the Federal Budget.

The simple fact that distorts every discussion is the fact that everyone in the Federal Government uses the same basic assumption about government spending commonly referred to as the ” baseline budget” or sometimes as the Congressional Budget Office Baseline.

Somewhere along the line Congress made a conscious decision to assume that government spending will increase each year. When anyone talks about cutting the budget, they are talking about cutting spending below the assumed spending and not below the current spending.

To understand the true impact of this, you must understand what the assumption for Government spending is. Here are the numbers provided by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO uses a ten year time frame to describe its assumptions.  In 2012 the CBO is estimating that the total Federal spending will be $3.6 trillion. If we were to say that Federal spending was going to stay constant, we would say that the baseline called for $36 trillion in spending over the next ten years. The actual CBO assumption, or the baseline budget, calls for a total of $44.4 trillion to be spent over the next ten years. Thus, the CBO is assuming that the Federal Government will increase spending by $8.4 trillion over the next ten years.

This assumption creates a lot of distortion in budget discussions.  It is not the politicians who are confused. The object is to confuse you and make you afraid of cutting spending thus ensuring that the size and scope of the Federal Government will continue to grow each year.

Consider the fact that President Obama’s description of a comprehensive deficit reduction plan was talking about spending cuts on the order of $3 trillion to $4 trillion over ten years. These anticipated “cuts” would actually grow the size of government by $4 trillion to $5 trillion over the next ten years. Is it any wonder that we find ourselves deeper in debt every year?

Even Paul Ryan’s budget proposal which is considered by many to be extreme and catastrophic would continue to grow the size of government . The best estimate I have heard is that his proposal calls for approximately $7 trillion in “cuts” over ten years which is actually and increase in spending of approximately $1.4 trillion.

The simple reality is that any proposal which cuts less than $8.4 trillion isn’t a cut at all.

If we ever expect to have a fiscally responsible government, we need to learn how to hold them accountable and make them tell the truth about their budget proposals. We also need to educate and hold the media accountable so they learn how to confront politicians in a truthful manner.

While watching MSNBC during the Republican National Convention, I witnessed one of their “personalities” describing how it was physically impossible for the Ryan budget to cut $7 trillion dollars from the budget. I will give this person the benefit of a doubt and suggest that they simply don’t understand the concept of baseline budgeting. As I described earlier, the Ryan budget still increases federal spending over the CBO budget time frame.

You can help by educating yourself, which you just did by reading this, by educating your friends and family and by educating your favorite media outlet via emails and tweets.