We asked you yesterday to play along with us and send your attempts to balance the U.S. Federal budget, using the New York Times online tool. While we received a few suggestions of what you'd like to do - and we thank those of you who did so - we think the most telling response to our request was received in a private e-mail.
This person simply asked why we were focusing on this topic - the budget deficit - when poll after poll continues to show that what Americans really want politicians to focus on is JOBS.
Not the deficit. Not the Bush tax cuts. Not the intraparty fighting.
Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.
We couldn't agree more - and in fact, we're glad that at least one of our readers has stated the obvious.
As some of us discussed our little budget deficit exercise yesterday afternoon, we hit on the same point we've made multiple times before - that no matter how we or you or Congress slices the budget, more revenue MUST be brought in and more cuts MUST be made. There is simply not an either/or approach to fixing our federal - or state - budgets that will able to be passed, that will work with ONLY raising taxes or cutting budgets.
The compromises that are being bandied about on all sides in Washington on the issue of extending the Bush tax cuts - or not extending them - merely support our point even further. The insane idea that political partisans from either side have pushed, that no one is to be allowed to make any compromises on this issue is bogus to the extreme. That any idiot ever spoke such words, let alone campaigned on such preposterous ideas, degrades the idea of effective government for us all. Thankfully, wiser heads on all sides appear to be prevailing in that too.
We agree, simply marking boxes like we - and some of you - did, in our budget exercise on Monday isn't the same level of difficulty that our Senators and Representatives will go through in aiming for more fiscally responsible government.
However, as we've shown here today in ultra-simple terms, tackling what needs to be done on issues of secondary importance - like the long-term deficit and the Bush tax cuts - aren't nearly the impossible tasks that so many make them out to be.
As our astute reader reminded us, what Americans want their government at ALL levels to focus on right now, more than ANYTHING else, is the exercise of working together to get Americans back to work, permanently, securely, and at respectable wage levels.
Other exercises are fun, sometimes - unless you're hungry, jobless, and you're not sure where you'll be staying next month, or next year.
It's long past time for every member of Congress to realize without jobs, none of the rest matters that much.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Lame Ducks, Cat Food - and Your Opportunity To Determine The Budget
During the time most members of Congress were out begging and schmoozing for their jobs during Campaign 2010, others in Washington kept working - including the Budget Deficit Commission, often pejoratively called on the internet the "Catfood Commission". We tend to agree that if the recommendations of the commission's chairman were to be followed to the letter, that far too many poor and working class Americans might be forced to eat cat food just to stay alive. Still, the general findings of the commission - as compromised and questionable as its makeup may be - are the same as what we've been saying for many years now.
That is, if America wants to deal with its budget problems, we need to collect more revenue AND make some significant changes.
The "Lame Duck" session of the 11th Congress returns to Washington, DC today - and both budget cuts and taxes are foremost on their agenda.
They also face the release of the report by the Deficit Commission, appointed by President Obama to make recommendations to Congress, after Republicans in Congress refused to appoint a commission themselves. We've studied what we can about what the details the committee has released so far - and it appears their efforts weren't completely worthless.
We've previously pointed out the President's 2011 budget proposal and noted how - when you crop out non-mandatory spending - only about 1/4 of the Federal budget can really be cut, the biggest portion of that being what's been reserved for the military.
The commission came to a similar conclusion about the military budget that we have, recommending that it be slashed deeply. As President Eisenhower warned half a century ago, America's military/industrial complex has an expensive habit of continuing to fight past wars, one that we can no longer afford. Those who believe that more military spending always increases our safety should be reminded, a dozen insane fanatics with 79¢ box cutters weren't stopped by a military that spends more on its budget than every other country on Earth combined.
Not all of the Commission's recommendations were worthy. They also recommended cutting Social Security and Medicare commitments severely - an idea pushed by some Congresspersons on the committee. While we agree that there are things in the budget that could and should be cut, reneging on commitments to those who've already paid in to the system - or blue-collar workers, who often need Social Security and Medicare long before they're 65 - are not cuts we'd universally recommend.
Because so many people - including our staff - believe they know how to cut the Federal budget and how America should raise revenues, The New York Times has now created an online tool where readers can choose what taxes they'd raise and which programs they would cut.
We invite you to do the same, and share your results with us today, by e-mail, by posting on our Facebook page or our blog.
We only ask one caveat of your attempt: Do it WITHOUT decimating any one class - poor, working class, or rich.
Good luck. Have fun. And remember - if we can do it, why can't Congress? We'll check back with your answers - and our own - soon.
That is, if America wants to deal with its budget problems, we need to collect more revenue AND make some significant changes.
The "Lame Duck" session of the 11th Congress returns to Washington, DC today - and both budget cuts and taxes are foremost on their agenda.
They also face the release of the report by the Deficit Commission, appointed by President Obama to make recommendations to Congress, after Republicans in Congress refused to appoint a commission themselves. We've studied what we can about what the details the committee has released so far - and it appears their efforts weren't completely worthless.
We've previously pointed out the President's 2011 budget proposal and noted how - when you crop out non-mandatory spending - only about 1/4 of the Federal budget can really be cut, the biggest portion of that being what's been reserved for the military.
The commission came to a similar conclusion about the military budget that we have, recommending that it be slashed deeply. As President Eisenhower warned half a century ago, America's military/industrial complex has an expensive habit of continuing to fight past wars, one that we can no longer afford. Those who believe that more military spending always increases our safety should be reminded, a dozen insane fanatics with 79¢ box cutters weren't stopped by a military that spends more on its budget than every other country on Earth combined.
Not all of the Commission's recommendations were worthy. They also recommended cutting Social Security and Medicare commitments severely - an idea pushed by some Congresspersons on the committee. While we agree that there are things in the budget that could and should be cut, reneging on commitments to those who've already paid in to the system - or blue-collar workers, who often need Social Security and Medicare long before they're 65 - are not cuts we'd universally recommend.
Because so many people - including our staff - believe they know how to cut the Federal budget and how America should raise revenues, The New York Times has now created an online tool where readers can choose what taxes they'd raise and which programs they would cut.
We invite you to do the same, and share your results with us today, by e-mail, by posting on our Facebook page or our blog.
We only ask one caveat of your attempt: Do it WITHOUT decimating any one class - poor, working class, or rich.
Good luck. Have fun. And remember - if we can do it, why can't Congress? We'll check back with your answers - and our own - soon.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Friday Funday: Congratulations - It's "Snow"-ing!
There are quite a few items we have our eyes and ears on today, including the potential for the GOP to finally cave and meet the President on his suggested compromise to temporary extensions to the Bush Tax Cuts. We're also watching the continuing "civil" war in the Republican Party over earmarks among other things, And we've been going over the announced - or rather, leaked by the chairman - details of the Deficit Commission's report, which we'll likely tackle at some point in the near future.
However, today is Friday - so we'd like to celebrate the efforts some of our staff and their colleagues on an outside project that launched this week.
We know that more than a few professional cartoonists and other media professionals read the Daily Felltoon and our daily commentaries. So we'd like to direct them - and you - to the website for a brand new project called Snow-by-Night.
It's an attempt at a new way to handle cartooning and comic books similar to a direction in which the major comic labels are going. It's an online graphic novel, one that will be be released at the rate of a page every Wednesday.
Like the serial cartoon strips of old, the story will follow a continuous arc - and has been written and created by someone who has worked professionally in the gaming and fantasy storytelling field. It's professionally edited, penciled and digitally inked, and then digitally colored - and then professionally published online. When the online graphic novel reaches around 32 pages, the plan is to have each finished chapter made available - on demand - to be ordered as a printed product. In other words, a good old-fashioned comic book.
Like many new media ventures, the Snow-by-Night team are using tools like Facebook and Twitter to grab the attention of those people who are more plugged in.
One feature we at the Daily Felltoon like about what they're doing with Snow-by-Night. For them, it's about the story first - and then the artwork must back up that great story.
They've got a lot planned to expand that story into a fully-fleshed out world, so we hope you'll go to snowbynight.com and check out their work.
If there was no other reason for us to recommend this project than that some of our staff was involved, we would. But this endeavor seems to be of high quality, and it appears that our friends are attempting to take the business of cartooning in a new direction - something we strongly favor.
Enjoy their work - and your weekend.
However, today is Friday - so we'd like to celebrate the efforts some of our staff and their colleagues on an outside project that launched this week.
We know that more than a few professional cartoonists and other media professionals read the Daily Felltoon and our daily commentaries. So we'd like to direct them - and you - to the website for a brand new project called Snow-by-Night.
It's an attempt at a new way to handle cartooning and comic books similar to a direction in which the major comic labels are going. It's an online graphic novel, one that will be be released at the rate of a page every Wednesday.
Like the serial cartoon strips of old, the story will follow a continuous arc - and has been written and created by someone who has worked professionally in the gaming and fantasy storytelling field. It's professionally edited, penciled and digitally inked, and then digitally colored - and then professionally published online. When the online graphic novel reaches around 32 pages, the plan is to have each finished chapter made available - on demand - to be ordered as a printed product. In other words, a good old-fashioned comic book.
Like many new media ventures, the Snow-by-Night team are using tools like Facebook and Twitter to grab the attention of those people who are more plugged in.
One feature we at the Daily Felltoon like about what they're doing with Snow-by-Night. For them, it's about the story first - and then the artwork must back up that great story.
They've got a lot planned to expand that story into a fully-fleshed out world, so we hope you'll go to snowbynight.com and check out their work.
If there was no other reason for us to recommend this project than that some of our staff was involved, we would. But this endeavor seems to be of high quality, and it appears that our friends are attempting to take the business of cartooning in a new direction - something we strongly favor.
Enjoy their work - and your weekend.
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