The Republicans successfully pushed a $61 billion budget cut proposal through the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday. Although the proposed federal budget reduction is relatively small, it has seen fierce opposition from democrat heavyweights. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went so far as to describe the budget cuts as “Draconian” and “unworkable.”
Remind you $61 billion is not even a half of a percent of our annual budget deficit, let alone our entire working budget. Typically this would be another politician’s misuse of strong vocabulary, but even Nancy Pelosi said the proposed cuts were “severe and indiscriminate.”
In order to justify such vapid language, I can only conclude cutting $61 billion has a greater effect than what I’m seeing. I could further analyze the situation, but I feel most college students feel apathetic towards federal budget concerns. Let’s replace fiat currency with something we all fear to lose: alcohol.
A friend of mine recently showed me a video on YouTube titled “Jack Daniels explains the Deficit.” This video of a mere 45,000 views, glibly demonstrated the dangers and scope of our growing budget deficit… with whiskey.
The smug narrator poured out a shot of mellowed sour mash for every $100 billion as he quickly chronicled the increases of the deficit since the Bush-era. At the very end, he demonstrated the effects of the proposed “Draconian” budget cuts: not even a full 1.5 ounces of that sweet Tennessee bourbon.
Despite the minimal buzz of the proposed cuts on the deficit, Obama is showing a low tolerance for any program reduction. In response to the Republicans in the House, our chief released a statement condemning the proposal and reaffirming his veto threats.
Barry, we need to talk. I thought you were in bipartisan-compromise-mode dude? I mean, you caved under the Bush tax breaks, and you gave a lot of green lights for budget cuts. But now, $61 billion from our federal deficit is a matter of “national security”? I know George left his playbook under the bed after he left, but the real breach in national security is going to come when the Chinese find out their T-bills are worthless. If we want to truly secure our nation for the years to come, we need larger cuts across the entire federal budget.
Granted my dreams won’t come true anytime soon, but one “Republican” is trying. On January 25, Rand Paul proposed a sweeping $500 billion budget cut. I don’t agree on his timing to deny funding to a few of our more addicting departments, but his proposal would bring the financial responsibility our nation needs. Of course, no one is going to support him, but I think he deserves a lot of credit for backing up his political campaign promises. Even if you don’t support his platform, you have to respect his contemporarily unseen political integrity. Paul is going to take a lot criticism for his actions, but if he is anything like his father, he is going to keep proposing this legislation.
Paul and his father are often labeled as being crazy, but they are the only two big players in Washington who are trying to make large scale change. I think crazy would be more appropriate for someone who would pilot our economy into the hands of a foreign nation rather than pass a negligible budget cut.
