Brian Riedl
Brian Riedl
sacrifice
Sacrifice? ... At this time, there is none.
admit courage flip opposed possible side
There is not much courage out there. Like an alcoholic, the first thing you have to do is admit you have a problem. The flip side of it is, Americans are vehemently opposed to every possible solution.
bills congress
The more controversial bills will most assuredly end up in a lame-duck Congress.
bad five last next worse
As bad as the last five years have been, it's going to get even worse the next five years.
bill symbol threatens
This ... bill threatens to become another symbol of irresponsible runaway spending.
days few precious
There are precious few legislative days before the election.
bleeds congress creates cultural culture effect federal government larger lobbyists means percent spending together true
Yes, it's true that earmarks are only 1 percent of all federal spending, but earmarks have a cultural effect on Congress that is much larger than their cost. It fuses Congress together with lobbyists and creates a culture of government spending as a means to re-election, which bleeds into other areas.
annual bold budget budgets deficit fiscal good growing growth immediate issue overwhelm pledge president programs proposal propose quickly rate reforms slow threaten trends
President Bush's pledge to halve the budget deficit by 2009 distracts policymakers from the real issue of unsustainable trends in long-term entitlement spending. The president's proposal to slow Medicare's 9% annual growth rate is a good fiscal step, but the budget does not propose enough immediate and bold reforms to the quickly growing entitlement programs that threaten to overwhelm the budget.
absence assume fix reform state tax union
In the absence of even mentioning tax reform in his State of the Union address, it may be presumptuous to assume a revenue-neutral AMT fix after 2007.
area classify count generally gray list obviously oppose setting similar specific spending though
I generally would still not count that as an earmark, even though it has a similar effect, because it is such a gray area of how specific is too specific when setting eligibility criteria. I obviously oppose those provisions, but I would not classify them the same as spending earmarks that actually list the name.
campaign congress create entirely government grants helps illusion incentive pork reform rein retaining sell system
Congress has no incentive to rein in pork, because pork helps lawmakers get campaign contributions and get re-elected. It is entirely predictable that Congress would create the illusion of reform while retaining the system that allows them to sell government grants for campaign contributions.
pork projects sacrifice serve time
It's about time lawmakers sacrifice pork projects that essentially serve as taxpayer-financed re-election advertisements.
bankrupt biggest care coming crisis danger economic entire federal health literally needs next problem system
The biggest economic danger of the next 50 years is the coming crisis in entitlement spending. The problem is the entire health care system is in crisis. The entire U.S. health care system needs to be overhauled. If not, it will literally bankrupt the federal government.
congress costs learn maybe next programs progress sky start symbolic whose year
It's symbolic progress for Congress to learn that they can terminate programs without the sky falling. Maybe they can come back next year and start terminating programs whose costs make a difference.