There is one aspect of Tuesday night's debate I would like to revisit. When the issue of earmarks was raised Barack Obama sought to downplay them, stating that while talking about them was good that they only "account for about $18 billion of our budget."
Later, when McCain raised the prospect of an across the board spending freeze with the exceptions of "defense, Veterans Affairs, and some other vital programs" Obama criticized this as "unfair burden sharing," adding that it was akin to "using a hatchet to cut the federal budget" when only a scalpel was necessary. Aside from the fact that it is an interesting insight into Obama's mindset, where a spending freeze -- by definition maintaining the same level of expenditures -- constitutes a hatchet-like cut, let's look at some numbers.
I examined the past few budgets and noted that the difference between the 2006 ($2.7 trillion), 2007 ($2.8 trillion), and 2008 ($2.9 trillion) budgets was about $100 billion each year. Now, given the proposed exemptions of defense, the VA and some other unspecified areas any spending freeze would be less than $100 billion. In fact, let's break this down further.
2008 Federal Budget:
Department of Defense: $481.4 billion
Department of Veterans Affairs: $83.3 billion (total outlays)
2007 Federal Budget:
Department of Defense: $439.3 billion
Department of Veterans Affairs: $73.8 billion (total outlays)
2006 Federal Budget:
Department of Defense: $419.3 billion
Department of Veterans Affairs: $68.3 billion (total outlays)
Based on this we can almost be sure that DoD expenditures will increase by at least $15 billion with the VA likely accounting for another $5 billion or so. Toss in, conservatively, $5 billion for the other programs McCain neglected to specifify but left wiggle room for and we're talking a reduction in the rate of increase of the federal budget of about $75 billion, $100 billion less the $25 billion for DoD, VA and others) or 2.5% of a $3 trillion budget (or a 6.7% reduction if you only look at discretionary spending of $1.111 trillion).
So, for those keeping score:
$18 billion in earmarks=small potatoes, chump change
$75 billion in lost increases=a hatchet, drastic deep cuts we can't make
The head spins.
Later, when McCain raised the prospect of an across the board spending freeze with the exceptions of "defense, Veterans Affairs, and some other vital programs" Obama criticized this as "unfair burden sharing," adding that it was akin to "using a hatchet to cut the federal budget" when only a scalpel was necessary. Aside from the fact that it is an interesting insight into Obama's mindset, where a spending freeze -- by definition maintaining the same level of expenditures -- constitutes a hatchet-like cut, let's look at some numbers.
I examined the past few budgets and noted that the difference between the 2006 ($2.7 trillion), 2007 ($2.8 trillion), and 2008 ($2.9 trillion) budgets was about $100 billion each year. Now, given the proposed exemptions of defense, the VA and some other unspecified areas any spending freeze would be less than $100 billion. In fact, let's break this down further.
2008 Federal Budget:
Department of Defense: $481.4 billion
Department of Veterans Affairs: $83.3 billion (total outlays)
2007 Federal Budget:
Department of Defense: $439.3 billion
Department of Veterans Affairs: $73.8 billion (total outlays)
2006 Federal Budget:
Department of Defense: $419.3 billion
Department of Veterans Affairs: $68.3 billion (total outlays)
Based on this we can almost be sure that DoD expenditures will increase by at least $15 billion with the VA likely accounting for another $5 billion or so. Toss in, conservatively, $5 billion for the other programs McCain neglected to specifify but left wiggle room for and we're talking a reduction in the rate of increase of the federal budget of about $75 billion, $100 billion less the $25 billion for DoD, VA and others) or 2.5% of a $3 trillion budget (or a 6.7% reduction if you only look at discretionary spending of $1.111 trillion).
So, for those keeping score:
$18 billion in earmarks=small potatoes, chump change
$75 billion in lost increases=a hatchet, drastic deep cuts we can't make
The head spins.
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