President Bush’s proposed $2.5 trillion budget asks for
cuts to social programs ranging from food stamps to vocational
training, but does nothing to solve long-term structural problems.
The plan will hurt needy Americans while protecting the wealthy
from contributing their fair share.
Few federal programs have been spared from cuts. The basic
theory behind Bush’s budget is that lower taxes will result
in economic growth which will in turn make the economy healthy in
the long run.
Basically, it follows the principles of Reaganomics ““ a
trickle-down system where the investments of wealthy companies and
individuals spur job creation for the poor.
As utopian as this idea is, there are many reasons the system
never works as promised, especially in a global economy: Wealthy
investors often invest outside of U.S. borders, and there is
substantial evidence that the trickle-down never happens at
all.
Instead, wealth simply becomes more concentrated.
And regardless of whether the theory is viable in the long term,
Bush’s budget will surely have immediate and harmful effects
on many Americans.
In fact, the only thing that seems “fair” about
Bush’s cuts is that they will affect nearly everyone.
The food-stamp program will get cuts of $1.1 billion, though
Bush has said most of that will come from increased
“efficiency.”
Also slated to be cut are heath care benefits for veterans, farm
subsidies, anti-drug programs and the “Even Start”
literacy program.
Bush is also cutting vocational training programs and programs
designed to train those who have lost their jobs to globalization
and outsourcing or didn’t pursue a college education.
Only the military and Homeland Security programs are receiving
budget increases. Defense spending has received an increase of 4.8
percent overall.
And despite these huge levels of Pentagon spending, the budget
does not include an estimated $80 billion that Bush has also
requested for ongoing 2005 operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, let
alone future needs in these countries.
The total cuts will result in a savings of about $137 billion
over 10 years ““ a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the
proposed Pentagon 2006 budget of about $419 billion and an
increasingly gloomy forecast for the nation’s deficit.
But Bush’s tax cuts will leave the United States with $1.1
trillion of debt over the same period.
Bush cannot increase funding for the military, cut social and
educational programs and also expect trickle-down economics to
magically fill a trillion-dollar budget hole all while cutting
taxes.
The math just doesn’t add up. Worse, the social effects
““ much harder to estimate quantitatively ““ will really
hurt the country.