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Targeted Freezes While Increasing Spending Where It’s Needed Is Not Hooverism FFS. #p2 #econ

Targeted freezes help to insure the cutting of pork will actually happen.

Amplify’d from buythebookcv.blogspot.com
Economic Confidence

I have not seen what Obama’s spending freeze entails, but I am surprised by the general conclusion that it is:

1. Inconsistent with his “hatchet vs scalpel” comment during the debate

2. Designed to appease Congressional Republicans or conservadems

Going to kill the economy
First point: In response to McCain’s call for an across the board spending freeze (with limited exceptions) during their debate, Obama said that McCain’s plan was a hatchet when what was needed was a scalpel.
he talked about using a scalpel, which means he believed and stated that some cuts were necessary. Now he’s making some cuts
No one, not even a fool, is going to claim that there is no waste in the budget. Just because the government needs to continue to put money into the economy doesn’t mean it needs to throw money at anything that moves
He inherited an economy that could have turned into a black hole,
Instead, Obama boldly put a big stimulus plan out there to fill the hole, and it’s done very well. Read more at buythebookcv.blogspot.com
 

White House Spending Freeze Not A ‘Hatchet’ #p2 #budget #econ

Oh those devilish little details which are so hard to hype in a headline…

Amplify’d from tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

White House Insists Spending Freeze Not A ‘Hatchet’

When the White House announced President Obama’s new plan to freeze discretionary non-security spending at 2010 levels for the next three years, Republicans fired up the way-back machine to say it was the same idea Obama criticized when his presidential rival Sen. John McCain pitched it last year.

At the time, Obama mocked McCain during their debates as applying a “hatchet” where a “scalpel” was the better choice. Obama aides said today they are indeed using a scalpel by not proposing an across the board cut of all government spending, and since they have made the decision with careful consideration.

Also worth noting, they increased spending for the 2010 budget, so the freeze is at a higher level than what Obama and McCain were talking about in their October 2008 debates.

Vice President Joe Biden’s chief economist Jared Bernstein defended Obama in a blog post today at WhiteHouse.gov, stretching the scalpel v. hatchet metaphor further.

Read more at tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com
 

Is “but it’s not a blunt freeze” the new “but it’s a dry heat”? #p2 #econ

The headline will be “Obama Freezes Budget for 3 years.” And it will be for the administration to explain “well, yes but…” because eyes start to glaze over when you talk about budgeting.

Amplify’d from tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

“This is not a blunt, across-the-board freeze,” the official said, adding that some agencies will see spending increases while some will see spending cuts as the total remains constant.

The cuts would target “duplicative,” “ineffective” and “inefficient” spending withing government, the official said on a conference call with reporters.

When the administration releases its budget next week, the discretionary spending for government agencies from Health and Human Services to the Department of Treasury will be frozen at its 2010 level in fiscal years 2011, 2012 and 2013.

the average proposed increase in administration budgets dating back to 1993 was 3 percent, and the average increase in budgets enacted was 5 percent.

The decision was made in part after Obama called on his Cabinet members to find cuts in their agencies, and “lots of meetings and effort were required in order to achieve this proposal.”

Congress must pass individual appropriations bills in addition to
the budget blueprint.Read more at tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com