President Bush has submitted
his budget for the next fiscal year which begins in October.The Budget totals
$2.8 trillions dollars.At present, this budget will be in deficit by nearly
four percent of next years gross domestic product.Gross domestic product
is the total value of final goods and services produced within a country's borders
in a year, regardless of ownership.What this means is that we are borrowing
money to fight the war in Iraq on credit.Recent tax cuts have boosted economic
growth but are responsible for moving our government finance from a surplus to a deficit.
So who is paying for this war in Iraq?The biggest
foreign purchasers of US government debt are China
and Japan.Why would they do that?If I remember Econ 101 at the University
of Northern Iowa correctly, buying our debt holds down the value of their own currencies
so that it is easier to export their goods and services to the United States.
You have to love the conservative spin when they say they are committed to keeping increases in government spending
below the level of inflation.If tax revenues don’t increase along the same line
as inflation then President Bush is asking to spend more than he did last year.By
focusing on saying they are keeping increased spending under inflation they are assuming that you will believe they are actually
spending less.Tax revenues and inflation are not directly related nor are they
proportional so, yep, they are spending more of your money next year.That is
all you really need to know.
Defense spending is projected to increase seven percent next year.Hmm,
where will that money come from?Well, that evil waste of a program called the
Elderly Nutrition Plan is projected to get the ax.This program distributes food
to churches, senior citizen centers and other sites for distribution and feeds nearly one half-million poor elderly people.The proposal is to shift these elderly to food stamps because many elderly people
are reluctant to sign up for food stamps.Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl, ranking
Democrat on the Senate Appropriations agriculture subcommittee claims, “It really does come under the category, in the most
extreme way, of balancing the budget on the backs of those who are most needy.”
The Bush budget shrinks or eliminates 141 programs and looks to save $36 billion in Medicare savings over the next
five years.The budget proposal comes only weeks before national debt will hit
the current statute limitation of $8.18 trillion.Congress will need to vote
for an increase in our nation’s credit line to keep the government operating.Last
years deficit was $319 billion and this year’s projected deficit will top $400 billion.This budget has been released as President Bush has stated that his chief domestic goal is to make permanent his first
term tax cuts which expire after 2010.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., called Bush’s proposed cuts in education and health “scandalous”.Others in the Republican have made claims of disappointment and surprise at the extent of the plans proposed
cuts in Medicaid and Medicare.The new proposed cuts to Medicaid and Medicare
are in addtion to a year long battle, just completed ,in last year’s session to cut $39 billion in health spending
over the next five years.
Nine Cabinet agencies will see reductions with the largest cuts occurring in the departments of Transportation, Justice
and Agriculture.
Forty-two cuts or eliminations are scheduled for education where drug-free school programs, the arts, technology and
parent-resource centers are listed as unviable or inefficient.These education
cuts are proposed at the same time the administration has announced they would like to train 70,000 high school math and science
teachers as part of Bush’s new American Competitiveness Initiative which is designed to help America
compete with China and India.The president’s budget slashes resources for exactly the priorities we should be supporting:
Medical research, senior health care and education. So it goes.
A
central figure in the "green revolution", Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914- ) was born on a farm near Cresco,
Iowa, to Henry and Clara Borlaug. For over a half century, the scientific and
humanitarian achievements of Dr. Norman Borlaug (Nobel Peace Prize winner, Medal Of Freedom Winner and recipient of over 35
honorary Doctorate Degrees) has kept starvation at bay for millions of people in third world countries. Dr. Borlaug, " Father
of the Green Revolution" continues his battle against starvation in Africa. Gregg Easterbrook writes of Borlaug "Though barely known in the country of his birth, elsewhere in the world
Norman Borlaug is widely considered to be among the leading Americans of our age." Iowa Norman
Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, will receive the National Medal of Science.Borlaug will be honored with seven other medal winners in a presentation by President
George W Bush at a White House ceremony on February 13th.
Borlaug spent 20 years developing disease-resistant wheat that boosted yields in India
and Pakistan in the 1960s. It's estimated
that his high-yield varieties have saved one billion people from starvation, according to the World Food Prize Foundation.
Borlaug founded the World Food Prize in 1986 to honor those that aid in feeding
the world. Borlaug is credited as being the single person credited with saving more lives than any other person
in the history of the planet. That, my friends, is cool.
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