George Rebane
From listening to all the talking heads this weekend going on about the $38.5B spending cuts in the FY2011 budget, we hear that both sides are taking full credit. And both the Dems and Repubs have declared victory … but over what??
It is clear that the tea parties are the only ones getting it. Before Friday night’s compromise, Tea Party Patriot co-founder Mark Meckler was in the lion’s den on CNBC with a white-haired, fast-talking progressive loudmouth who kept interrupting Meckler while trying to get him to say something silly about various social issues involved with the proposed cuts. Meckler wisely stuck to his guns stating that the TPP stood for fiscal responsibility, and was promoting the originally promised $100B spending cut in the budget for this year FY2011. He emphasized that it was the amount that is important to us as a nation in the global community (a position long held in these pages).
Other countries with whom we trade, borrow from, and convince to keep the dollar as the world’s reserve currency don’t give a rat’s butt where we reduce our spending to become fiscally responsible; they just want us to do it. Actually, our enemies are siding with the Dems, and want the train wreck to happen sooner than later. In any event, it is only the spending cut AMOUNTS that matter, and it is only the tea parties, led by the TPP, who started us on this responsible path that has now led to the Paul Ryan FY2012 budget proposal. And it is only the tea parties that are still holding the politicians feet to the fire on an adult approach – cutting trillions in spending to reduce trillions in deficits – to a feasible fiscal soft landing.
As a TPP member, I see no reason to dance in the fly pucky and celebrate the smidgeon announced last Friday night. IF IF IF that leads to a clear-headed approach needed to negotiate a meaningful basis for raising the debt limit in May, and then adopting a real FY2012 budget – a la the Ryan Plan – to demonstrate good faith, THEN maybe I’ll tap my toe quietly to the celebratory parade that everyone from Obama to Boehner to Reid is trying to lead. But getting excited today is a mite early. The sobering figure below explains.
[update] And Ramirez is always able to summarize succinctly.
rebanesruminations.com 
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