Дон Карлос
Доне, сори, нямах в предвид да се заяждам, мисълта ми е че повечето неща, които вземаш под внимание са hype и доста далеч от реалността. Бюджетът на Буш не е "консервативен" а е пълна смешка. Прочети този текст ако си добре с английският.
THE 2006 FEDERAL BUDGET: ANALYSIS
Red-ink budget doesn't include costs for war
By William Neikirk
Tribune senior correspondent
Published February 8, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush sent the first budget of his second term to Congress on Monday and portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative ready to tackle a deficit that many Americans fear could run dangerously out of control.
But he found himself under immediate attack by critics who questioned his resolve in executing his proposed budget reductions. They noted that in his first term he didn't veto a single spending bill.
Furthermore, his detractors said, the new $2.57 trillion budget for 2006 leaves out significant deficit-increasing items likely to be required in the next few years, such as funding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and providing the middle class with future relief from the alternative minimum income tax.
With this budget, the depth of the president's fiscal conservatism has become a key question. He provides no comprehensive budget outlook after 2010, when the deficit picture is expected to worsen dramatically as the Baby Boom generation begins to retire in larger numbers.
The same Bush who signed one of the largest increases in farm subsidy programs in 2002 now proposes to slash them. The same Bush who last fall signed a corporate tax measure filled with special-interest provisions now declares himself ready to hold federal programs to a "firm test of accountability."
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) called it a "hide-and-seek budget" that fails to reflect various increased costs, which could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next five years. Also, Bush did not include the transition costs for establishing the Social Security personal retirement savings accounts, beginning in 2009, that he espoused in his State of the Union speech last week.
The projected $390 billion deficit in fiscal year 2006 starting in October does not include an expected large outlay for Iraq and Afghanistan. In the current fiscal year, the administration is soon expected to ask about $81 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other overseas security spending, and an expenditure of equal magnitude in fiscal 2006 is considered highly likely.
Concern among voters
The ocean of red ink in the budget--on top of this year's $427 billion deficit--has turned into a growing national issue, making many Americans nervous about the deficit's future effect on the economy and many foreigners concerned that future inflation could hurt their dollar investments in the U.S.
Bush sought to address these concerns with a fiscal 2006 budget that slashes or eliminates 150 government programs, holds the line on many federal discretionary programs, and even cuts the Medicaid program for the poor. At the same time, he would boost the defense and homeland security budgets sharply while making his tax cuts permanent.
In his budget, Bush lays out in more concrete detail what he means by "compassionate conservatism." In general, he would retain the government's federal safety net, including Social Security and Medicare, but would seek to allow a greater private role for individuals in taking advantage of those services. He would allow Americans a tax credit to make health insurance more affordable.
Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said, "There is always an unavoidable schizophrenia about budgets. The president feels a need to restrain spending in some areas and expand programs in other areas."
Reischauer added, "No matter how successful you think the effort will be, you have to applaud his willingness to list a series of programs for elimination or reduction that he has concluded aren't meeting some minimum degree of effectiveness."
By sharply restraining federal discretionary spending, the president said his budget would deliver on his goal to slash the budget deficit in half by 2009, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product, the measure of annual economic output.
"This budget represents the president's strongest stand against runaway spending," said Brian Riedl, budget analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation. "It's important for the president to draw a line in the sand."
Bush did little of that in his first term, preferring to postpone any austerity to a second term.
"He does not have a record of fiscal restraint," said Bob Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a group that monitors the budget. "I don't think he has paid sufficient attention to the long-term consequences of his fiscal policy."
Middle class feels pinch
Bixby said more middle-class Americans are increasingly feeling a higher tax bite because of the alternative minimum tax, a levy originally designed to prevent wealthy people with large tax deductions from avoiding taxes. He said pressure is growing to reduce this burden.
Budget Director Joshua Bolten told reporters Monday that the administration is leaving out a budget cost for overhauling the alternative minimum tax until a Bush task force makes its recommendations on tax reform later this year.
Bixby said, "The cost of continuing the war efforts and providing [alternative minimum tax] relief could easily add another $500 billion to the deficit over the next five years and over $100 billion in 2009 alone."
Доне, сори, нямах в предвид да се заяждам, мисълта ми е че повечето неща, които вземаш под внимание са hype и доста далеч от реалността. Бюджетът на Буш не е "консервативен" а е пълна смешка. Прочети този текст ако си добре с английският.
THE 2006 FEDERAL BUDGET: ANALYSIS
Red-ink budget doesn't include costs for war
By William Neikirk
Tribune senior correspondent
Published February 8, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush sent the first budget of his second term to Congress on Monday and portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative ready to tackle a deficit that many Americans fear could run dangerously out of control.
But he found himself under immediate attack by critics who questioned his resolve in executing his proposed budget reductions. They noted that in his first term he didn't veto a single spending bill.
Furthermore, his detractors said, the new $2.57 trillion budget for 2006 leaves out significant deficit-increasing items likely to be required in the next few years, such as funding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and providing the middle class with future relief from the alternative minimum income tax.
With this budget, the depth of the president's fiscal conservatism has become a key question. He provides no comprehensive budget outlook after 2010, when the deficit picture is expected to worsen dramatically as the Baby Boom generation begins to retire in larger numbers.
The same Bush who signed one of the largest increases in farm subsidy programs in 2002 now proposes to slash them. The same Bush who last fall signed a corporate tax measure filled with special-interest provisions now declares himself ready to hold federal programs to a "firm test of accountability."
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) called it a "hide-and-seek budget" that fails to reflect various increased costs, which could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next five years. Also, Bush did not include the transition costs for establishing the Social Security personal retirement savings accounts, beginning in 2009, that he espoused in his State of the Union speech last week.
The projected $390 billion deficit in fiscal year 2006 starting in October does not include an expected large outlay for Iraq and Afghanistan. In the current fiscal year, the administration is soon expected to ask about $81 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other overseas security spending, and an expenditure of equal magnitude in fiscal 2006 is considered highly likely.
Concern among voters
The ocean of red ink in the budget--on top of this year's $427 billion deficit--has turned into a growing national issue, making many Americans nervous about the deficit's future effect on the economy and many foreigners concerned that future inflation could hurt their dollar investments in the U.S.
Bush sought to address these concerns with a fiscal 2006 budget that slashes or eliminates 150 government programs, holds the line on many federal discretionary programs, and even cuts the Medicaid program for the poor. At the same time, he would boost the defense and homeland security budgets sharply while making his tax cuts permanent.
In his budget, Bush lays out in more concrete detail what he means by "compassionate conservatism." In general, he would retain the government's federal safety net, including Social Security and Medicare, but would seek to allow a greater private role for individuals in taking advantage of those services. He would allow Americans a tax credit to make health insurance more affordable.
Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said, "There is always an unavoidable schizophrenia about budgets. The president feels a need to restrain spending in some areas and expand programs in other areas."
Reischauer added, "No matter how successful you think the effort will be, you have to applaud his willingness to list a series of programs for elimination or reduction that he has concluded aren't meeting some minimum degree of effectiveness."
By sharply restraining federal discretionary spending, the president said his budget would deliver on his goal to slash the budget deficit in half by 2009, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of gross domestic product, the measure of annual economic output.
"This budget represents the president's strongest stand against runaway spending," said Brian Riedl, budget analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation. "It's important for the president to draw a line in the sand."
Bush did little of that in his first term, preferring to postpone any austerity to a second term.
"He does not have a record of fiscal restraint," said Bob Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a group that monitors the budget. "I don't think he has paid sufficient attention to the long-term consequences of his fiscal policy."
Middle class feels pinch
Bixby said more middle-class Americans are increasingly feeling a higher tax bite because of the alternative minimum tax, a levy originally designed to prevent wealthy people with large tax deductions from avoiding taxes. He said pressure is growing to reduce this burden.
Budget Director Joshua Bolten told reporters Monday that the administration is leaving out a budget cost for overhauling the alternative minimum tax until a Bush task force makes its recommendations on tax reform later this year.
Bixby said, "The cost of continuing the war efforts and providing [alternative minimum tax] relief could easily add another $500 billion to the deficit over the next five years and over $100 billion in 2009 alone."
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