Bush needs kids lesson

Bush Needs Kids' Lesson on Budget By Sarah Littman

published 2/22/2005

Sometimes, my kids get into “I want” mode. Then it’s time for The Money Talk. I remind them it’s not their birthday or Chanukah, and then explore the options open to them, such as saving their weekly allowance, or doing extra chores to supplement their earnings. Recently, The Money Talk has become even more sophisticated to take into account our family’s changing circumstances; we’ve visualized income as a pie, and discussed how the same size pie has to feed two households instead of one requiring choices about our spending priorities.

Studying President Bush’s proposed budget, I feel the overwhelming urge to have The Money Talk with him.

As Robert L. Borosage, of the Campaign for America’s Future, observed: “the federal budget is a moment of truth. It reveals what we value, what kind of nation we seek to build.” If the Bush budget is a revelatory mirror of our countenance as a nation, we need a facelift, pronto.

Does anyone else find it ironic that a president who prides himself on his “Christian values” (wait…isn’t humility a Christian value?) has proposed a budget which unarguably penalizes the most vulnerable groups in our society, whilst seeking to make permanent tax cuts and add additional ones which, according to analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, would go, overwhelmingly, to those with incomes above $100,000?

In the State of the Union address Mr. Bush said: “Now, as we see a little gray in the mirror… and we watch our children moving into adulthood, we ask the question: What will be the state of their union?” That’s one I’ve been asking constantly this administration came to office. Conservatives railed at Clinton because his actions forced them to explain to their kids the nature of a non-penetrative sexual act. I’m mad because I have to try to explain to MY kids why their government is putting their future in jeopardy in so many ways – education, environment, healthcare, social security, not to mention leaving a legacy of horrendous debt for them and their children to repay. And all while having the chutzpah to claim: “the president proposes to end accounting sleights of hand.”

I see. So tell me, Mr. President: How does ignoring the costs of your own top priorities as enumerated in the State of the Union address (Iraq, restructuring Social Security and tax code reform) in your budget ends “accounting sleights of hand”? As Robert L Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates balanced budgets, said “to leave out Social Security, the Alternative Minimum Tax and the war costs and say you have a plan to cut the deficit in half over five years is beyond chutzpah.”

What’s more, the portion of the budget that Bush seeks to restrain, namely domestic discretionary spending, represents a mere $389 billion of the proposed $2.5 trillion dollar budget. And it is, inevitably, the part of the budget that most effects the growing number of poor.

The president’s previous budgets increased spending by 33% in four years – an astonishing figure a party that claims to represent fiscal responsibility and smaller government. While the government would like you to believe that all this additional spending is due to increased homeland security needs, the fact is that over half of all new spending in the past two years is from areas unrelated to defense and homeland security.

Speaking of homeland security, two months ago, the President signed the National Intelligence Reform Act, which included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006. About 80% of these were to patrol the 2,000 mile U.S/Mexico border, through which it is believed Al Qaeda plans to smuggle operatives. Sound like a priority? Bush’s 2006 budget funds a paltry 210 new border agents. Call it the “No Child Left Behind” ploy - claim credit for passing legislation to deal with a problem but neglect to provide adequate funding to ensure effective implementation.

Massive deficits have resulted in the dollar losing 20% of its value since he came to office, and there’s growing number of poor households whose share of total income has fallen to one of the lowest levels since the end of World War II. Yet Mr. Bush wants to make his tax cuts permanent and spend over $1 trillion to reform Social Security. I’m trying to teach my kids financial responsibility; that you can’t have your pie and eat it too. The President wants us to believe he can.