Posted on 04/26/2009 5:58:56 AM PDT by Daffynition
In his weekly address today, President Obama calls for fiscal discipline and says his administration will eliminate waste and increase efficiency.
"We cannot settle for a future of rising deficits and debts that our children cannot pay," the president says, adding that we must "recognize that we cannot meet the challenges of today with old habits and stale thinking. So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era. Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results. It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington."
President Obama alludes to the $100 million he this week asked his Cabinet to locate in savings (amidst his $3.55 trillion budget proposal) and calls on Congress to pass "pay-as-you-go" legislation. He says his administration will create incentives for agencies to cut costs and identify savings, and pledges to establish a process for government employees to submit their ideas on how their agency can save money and perform better.
In addition, the president says, "we will reach beyond the halls of government. Many businesses have innovative ways of using technology to save money, and many experts have new ideas to make government work more efficiently. Government can –- and must –- learn from them. So later this year, we will host a forum on reforming government for the 21st century, so that we’re also guided by voices that come from outside of Washington."
The president's talk about protecting taxpayer dollars comes at the end of a week where two independent government watchdogs expressed concerns that the Obama administration is not ensuring sufficient oversight over the trillions in new government spending.
The Office of Special Inspector General for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program Neil Barofsky called on the Treasury Department to require all institutions that receive TARP funds to report how they use the money.
“With the exception of Citigroup and Bank of America, Treasury has refused to seek further details on TARP recipients’ use of funds," he writes. “Simply put, the American people have a right to know how their tax dollars are being used.” He also expressed grave concerns over the lack of oversight of the public-private partnership to purchase up to $1 trillion in toxic assets.
The Government Accountability Office issued a report on the $787 billion stimulus bill reporting that officials from most of the states surveyed "expressed concerns regarding the lack of Recovery Act funding provided for accountability and oversight. Due to fiscal constraints, many states reported significant declines in the number of oversight staff -- limiting their ability to ensure proper implementation and management of Recovery Act funds."
When asked about these two reports, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he'd get back to us.
Later, one of his press aides referred us to a letter Vice President Biden sent to Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair and ranking member respectively of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, outlining Recovery Act oversight efforts to date and in the future.
The vice president said he met with GAO's acting comptroller general, Gene Dadaro, to discuss the reports that GAO was preparing.
"We welcome this dialogue with GAO and look forward to building on these observations from their field work, as well as their overall insights," Biden said.
He wrote that beginning April 27, there will be a week-long online forum at Recovery.gov where the public, government officials, and stimulus fund recipients can submit suggestions on "more effective tools for public monitoring of Recovery Act funds."
President Obama said in his weekly address that "all across America, families are tightening their belts and making hard choices. Now, Washington must show that same sense of responsibility. That is why we have identified two trillion dollars in deficit-reductions over the next decade, while taking on the special interest spending that doesn’t advance the peoples’ interests."
Critics say the president's claim to have found "two trillion dollars in deficit reductions" is a bit misleading.
Despite the president's proclamation that his budget avoids the gimmickry his predecessor embraced by, say, not fully budgeting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq within his budget proposals, some say the president is embracing some gimmickry of his own.
The way President Obama's numbers-crunchers find 3/4ths of this $2 trillion savings is by creating a "baseline" wherein the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are fully budgeted for 10 years. They then claim that since they're not going to spend that much over the next ten years, they're saving $1.5 trillion.
Or, as Slate's John Dickerson puts it, "Here's an analogy that may help you understand this trick. Let's say that your daughter is about to finish her last year of college, after which she plans to enter a monastery, where she will take a vow of poverty and refuse future parental help. But as you plan your budget for the next decade, you use current-year expenses as your 'baseline' and assume that, for the next 10 years, she'll still be in college and you'll still be paying her annual tuition. When she graduates and enters the monastery as planned, you get to pretend that you 'saved' the money for the nine years of college tuition you knew she was never going to need."
-- jpt
Good grief. This dolt has no clue.
-FauxRock 0bama (the new foundation on which to build the American economy and society)
I guess this means we’ll be seeing Obama at all the TEA parties.
Barack Obama saving $100,000,000 in a $3,600,000,000,000 bidget is the same as saving $2.78 in a $100,000 budget. Only the stupid and math-challenged will find this fiscal responsibility impressive.
No...he has a clue...he just thinks we don’t.
“It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington.”
God help us all.
That man is mental! Was he speaking to the American people or the Congress? It would probably be too much to ask for him and the corruptocrats to lead by example.....
We the sheeple...
“Here’s an analogy that may help you understand this trick. Let’s say that your daughter is about to finish her last year of college, after which she plans to enter a monastery, where she will take a vow of poverty and refuse future parental help. But as you plan your budget for the next decade, you use current-year expenses as your ‘baseline’ and assume that, for the next 10 years, she’ll still be in college and you’ll still be paying her annual tuition. When she graduates and enters the monastery as planned, you get to pretend that you ‘saved’ the money for the nine years of college tuition you knew she was never going to need.”
LOL ...R-I-G-H-T. ;-D
This coming from a man who has proposed a 3.5 trillion budget?
This coming from a man who has given trillions away in misbegotten, wasteful, so-called stimulus, that have stimulated nothing except a destruction of the free market?
In the midst of such a budget fiasco and sending frenzy (the worst in history), his calls for saving $100 million are akin to you and I saving a dollar or two over the next year from our entire family budget.
OOW, meaningless.
He is trying to divert attention away from the very thing he is ruining us with.
No surprise there, he is an abject marxist ideolog.
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA
BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IN HIS OWN WORDS
NOW WE KNOW WHAT A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER DOES
OBAMA, THE STOCK MARKET, AND ENERGY
THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING
The town lush chastises the rest of the town for not drinking in moderation.
BUMP
This fairy tale is instructive:
Pinocchio, Snow White, and Superman are out for a stroll in town one day.
As they walked, they come across a sign: “Beauty contest for the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“I am entering!” said Snow White.
After half an hour she comes out and they ask her, “Well, how’d ya do?”
“First Place!,” said Snow White.
They continue walking and they see a sign:
“Contest for the strongest man in the world.”
“I’m entering,” says Superman.
After half an hour, he returns and they ask him, “How did you make out?”
“First Place,” answers Superman. “Did you ever doubt?”
They continue walking when they see a sign:
“Contest! Who is the greatest liar in the world?” Pinocchio enters.
After half an hour he returns with tears in his eyes.
“What happened?” they asked.
“Who the hell is Obama?” asked Pinocchio.
LOL! Thanks for the chuckle...they are few and far between now a days....
There’s an old English expression for that: “Penny wise, pound foolish”.
This guy is a comedian. Chris Rock better watch out!
Saying he is going to trim the budget is like saying you are going to get a tax cut. Sounds good on paper, just don’t try to spend it. Tapper is one of the only real reporters in the WH Corpse.
Pray for America and Our Troops
Proof...of the Oligarchiy’s total contempt of their subjects...
He didn’t even really save 100 million. He just got his Cabinet members to promise to do so in the next several years. It was eyewash of the first order.
He’s pretty and can read a good line off a teleprompter.
His handlers don’t want him to really know anything, just play his role and not screw anything up. Don’t get caught with hoes or coke.
I sort of admire this guys ability to go to work stoned...because I was never able to do that.
Exactly, zero. Then why in the hell are you doing it?
I fully intend to send less to the gov’t via taxes (fees, etc.) than I did last year.
This list can easily be extended. The problem is that Democrat voters don't care, if they vote for liars. That's the problem.
The utter contempt these thugs have for the intelligence of the American public is astounding. Only the extent of their hypocrisy and shamelessness can compare.
Which is why a revolt is coming. And his “O”ness can’t say that he wasn’t warned. ;)
He is good...a solitary voice of sanity.
He could have called for fecal discipline since that’s all his administration has to offer.
In further news...
Arsonists call for halt to fires.
Gluttons say “stop eating.”
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