New US Budget, New Record Budget Deficit

[Don Corleone]

I think there's more of us than you think Lemur. I'm with you. I don't believe in defecit spending, and all these giveaways, like free viagra for Grandpa are just ridiculous. Did you guys know that according to the current IRS rules, certain tax credits can actually garner you a rebate for larger than the amount you owe?!?!

No kidding. Let's say you owe $5K in taxes. But you take the Childcare Tax Credit, and it gives you $8K. Even though you didn't pay 1 dime in taxes, the IRS will send you a check for $3K!?!?!? If we're going to pass a law that we're going to pay people to put their kids into childcare, then we should do that. But tax credits, as defined, are a reduction of debt. Only to the fools in DC do they equate to an actual earning if they exceed your tax.

I'll grant you, spending on defense, especially with only $50 billion scheduled for Iraq when the most conservative estimates put the figure at 3x that, is getting completely out of control. But there's so many giveaways in the Federal budget now, it's hard to see how we're not all getting rich. And it's all just credit card debt. We're running up the tab for our kids to pay down.

[discovery1]

And the vast majority of the young don't care nor do they even have a clue. It's pathetic. We are almost doomed.

[AntiochusIII]

So that's why the schools' money have been rather annoyingly problematic lately. Sure, the Medicare thing really needs some major reforms, may be even with the entire thing crumbling down so to rebuild from scratch, but schools?

...

But hey, who needs education! Let's fight some freakin' wars instead! Oh, and build that new shiny plane that will never be worth the cost, too!

And here I am, damning myself to a massive national debt by moving here legally and applied for citizenship.

Count me in among the three percent of America who are concerned about this.

[Xiahou]

We spend more money per student than virtually any other developed country. What do we get for it? Substandard performance. Money isn't the problem with public education.

[Don Corleone]

Aside from which, you need to learn American political speech, Antiochus, if you intend to live here and become an actively interested citizen.

A budgetary cut, as in Bush has cut federal spending on education, defined:

Congress appropriates programs based on not only what they believe they will need now, but assumes a certain level of growth for the program, that typically outpaces inflation. If a budget comes out that increases funding to a program, but at a lesser rate than the originally approved growth rate, it's called a cut. This is what happened with the education budget, and it's ludicrous. As Xiahou rightly pointed out, the US spends more per student than any other country in the world. Raw dollars is not the answer. We need to address the causes of our underperforming school. This is what 'No Child Left Behind' was supposed to be about, before Bush decided to cave and give Kennedy whatever he wanted. What resulted was a giveaway that makes little sense. If the old adage 'If everyone is upset by it, then it must be a fair law' is true, than NCLB is quite possibly the fairest public policy program ever enacted.

Similarly, the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (MPDB) has been and will continue to be an abysmal failure. The Pharmaceutical Company Profit Restortation Act would be a better name for it. I am an ardent capitalist, and it's rare you'll hear me on a screed against 'Big ____' (tobacco, oil, what have you), but this is one case where the shoe fits:
-In most cases, the 'benefit' doesn't reduce payments by the elderly. In more than a few cases, it actually increases their payments.
-Recipients are required to scan the internet weekly to see which version of the program will fit their needs best for the coming month.
-In several tests, HHS staffers responsible for educating the public on how to use the website could not produce meaningful results and were not able to select the best program choice for a given test case, when limited to 1 hour or less of web research time.
-People who have already seen to their own needs are NOT allowed to opt out of the program.
-In many cases, drug companies will be compensated at close to twice the rate they currently are, for the exact same drugs that are currently in the market.
-Congress is forbidden, by the law itself, from negotiating prices or asking drug companies for lower cost alternatives.
-For agreeing to make all this bonus cash, the drug companies make an additional fortune in tax exemptions (the only portion of the bill I actually approve of).
And the bill for this abmonination? The most conservative estimates put forward by the White House are $400 billion over 10 years. Most analysts, including National Review, put the price tag at a much higher cost. Insanity.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I second Don C on all points. He hits the mark square. And don't get us started on the SocSec system as well.

[rory_20_uk]

With so many problems with government is that if you give money to schools for example the indirect kickbacks are limited. Who wants to be on the board for a school post whitehouse job? But get the government to spend vast fortunes on some new gizmo and you might just a 1 day a year consulting job with them that pays more than a doctor's annual salary.

Oh, and of course they wouldn't have and shares in the aforesaid companies before the large contract get given, would they...

In the UK it gets mad as well. Whiteboards that are conected to the internet - every kid with their own PC!!!

I want to a small private school and our results were way above average. We had almost no PCs, and lessons were pretty didactic (as we assumed that the teacher knew more than the pupils - heresy I know).

My entire chemistry class either did medicine or went to Cambridge. There was no lesson planning at all. No computers were ever used. We had a blackboard, eager pupils and a decent teacher. The basics were there and the school being private didn't waste money on junk that wouldn't increase success.