Opinion: Before we slam Trump’s $4.1T budget, let the experts look at it
May 25, 2017, 6:03 PM
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has a problem with President Donald Trump and his $4.1 trillion budget and it looks like she’s not alone.
Before I get to the nuts and bolts of the budget, let’s look at what $1 trillion actually is. To put it in perspective: If I handed you $1 every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every week, of every month, of every year, it would take more than 31,700 years for me to give you $1 trillion.
Now that we have a grasp of what we’re talking about, let’s get to the budget.
I don’t want to bury the lead, so I’m just going to come right out and say it: I have no clue if this is a good budget or a bad budget. Neither do you.
It’s funny to me how everyone becomes an expert on the nuts and bolts of what it takes to run a nation when their guy or the other party’s guy comes out with a proposal.
Ultimately, one side will cheer its contents — that they know nothing about — and the other side will try to use it for scare tactics to rally their base — that has no idea what’s in the budget.
As far as Trump’s budget goes, the left is screaming it would only benefit the rich with only the poor and disabled being impacted by cuts to social programs across the board.
This might shock some of you, but I am for cuts across the board to every single department there is!
I have said countless times that your elected officials have one mission: reelection and retention of power.
You cannot run for reelection on the platform of, “I passed a budget for all of my rich friends and people in wheelchairs went without healthcare.” That is political suicide.
Yes, cuts need to be made in welfare programs and social programs changes need to be made. Those programs have to be forced into making sure those that need aid most get it. We can’t have a grown-up discussion about social services without admitting that there are several people — a solid percentage — that take advantage of the system.
Changes need to be made and nothing brings change more quickly than budget cutting.
I will take the president’s budget to task the second I see an increase in defense spending. Wait, I just saw it. We do not need an increase in defense spending!
We outspend the next eight nations combined on national security. We are secured from an alien invasion.
Does that mean that our defense spending is being spent in the right places? Absolutely not! That budget needs to be restructured, not increased. The waste needs to go away. And like I mentioned before with social services, nothing creates change and efficiency more than cutting funding.
Then there is the left’s favorite target, tax benefits for the “wealthy.”
Keep in mind your government thinks that any household making $250,000 and above is wealthy. I don’t disagree with the fact that families making that or higher are doing just fine, but why do we leave the burden on them?
If we want people off of welfare and into the job market, why hurt the people that are creating the jobs, that are buying expensive things that are made by people like you and me in the middle class, that eat at overpriced restaurants employing 50 to 75 people at each location?
Stop vilifying people that make money!
Until we speak to or hear from those that have read the entire budget and conducted an analysis on its impact to normal Americans, we need to let it play itself out and not blast headlines such as “Trump’s budget hurts the poor.”