Budget melodrama: Deficits, debt and disaster--- It’s just politics, not the end of the world

MarketWatch ^ | March 30, 2011, 12:27 p.m. EDT | Darrell Delamaide

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Commentary: It’s just politics, not the end of the world

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – All this tiresome bickering over the budget kind of makes you want to shut down the federal government right away, or at least put politicians on mute.

While no one can say that the $50 billion separating the Democrats and Republicans in Congress is trivial, it is hardly earthshaking. It represents only 3% of a fiscal 2011 deficit currently projected at $1.645 trillion and just over 1% of the $3.8 trillion budget.

However, while much of the tedious drama in Washington is just so much posturing, there is a real chance the government will actually shut down when the current stopgap spending bill expires on April 8 because of failure to reach a compromise.

But even that, as we saw in 1995, is not the end of the world, in spite of the real hardship and considerable inconvenience it causes to innocent citizens – not to mention the unfairness to government workers.

In fact, this reductio ad absurdum of the government budgeting process could be a welcome cathartic experience. Everyone could see again, as they did in 1995, that we really do need government and that tackling the deficit in this capricious manner serves nobody’s interests.

[April Lexington]

@ssclowns create a trillion dollars in new deficit in one yer and then nobody in Washington can figure our within 12 months how to roll it back? We are soooooooooooo screwed as a nation. Our state wants to leave this loony bin and operate as an independent nation. We cannot continue to be a part of this joke without destroying our freedom. You want revolution? You will get revolution...

[elpadre]

Get real Darrell - 3% of the deficit is a start. It is better than nothing, better than 2.99%, but not as good as 100%. We need to get going, establish a momentum, sing louder than the left whiners. If we can't legislate let's be good cheer leaders - go, go, go!!

[wbarmy]

Could not agree more. A lot of the present budget is contracts and other outlays which have already been promised. Fight for what we can and then hit them in the next budget right where it hurts.