DOA … Dead On Arrival

Posted on by under education, Environmental Issues, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Rants

Fortunately, since we have a caveman at the helm, the president does not write the budget – Congress does.  The president can submit his proposal, his request or wish list, but at the end of the day, it is Congress who writes the budget.  Thankfully.

This week, Trump gave his wish list to Congress, and as we all suspected, it is atrocious.  In short, he wants to take as much as he can possibly take from We the People and give as much as he possibly can to his wealthy cronies, raising the already-staggering deficit in the process.  Let’s take a look at some of the most egregious items, shall we?

  • First, there is “the wall”. Since he couldn’t bully Congress into giving him the $5.7 billion he asked for to start work on the wall, he is now asking for $8.6 billion!  And this guy is supposed to be a master dealmaker?  The art of compromise is entirely lost on him!
  • Then there is the environment. His proposal is to cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 31%.  It would cut the EPA’s Global Change Research office, which exists to provide scientific information to policymakers about the threats posed by climate change, as well as a number of other programs involving clean water and air.
  • Along similar lines, he proposes massive cuts to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) renewable energy and energy efficiency budget … some 70%!!! The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which falls under the DOE, provides hundreds of millions of dollars a year in grants and other financial assistance for clean energy, has financed research into technologies ranging from electric vehicles to energy projects powered by ocean waves. It has been credited with financing research to help make the cost of wind power competitive with coal, and cutting the costs of LED lighting.

Note that Trump has repeatedly vowed to zero out federal spending on clean energy research and development, while doing everything in his power to promote and even subsidize the fossil fuel industry.  The only conclusion that can be drawn is that either he truly desires the destruction of the human race, or he is really that damn stupid.

  • He proposes to cut safety net programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, and housing assistance, all programs that low-income families depend on for their very survival. In spite of inflation, he proposes to freeze the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students.
  • He has also proposed to cut Medicare … that benefit that we all paid into every single paycheck of our lives … by $845 billion over the next ten years! And … he plans to cut $25 billion from Social Security … again, a program that we all paid 6.2% of our gross pay into every paycheck we ever earned in our entire lives!

Note that in 2016, when he was still a wanna-be, he said, “I’m not going to cut Social Security, like every other Republican, and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.” More damn lies! 

  • He also proposes to cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 16 percent and the Education Department by 12 percent.
  • He does, however, wish to increase the defense budget by $750 billion (that’s in addition to the $8.6 billion for his damn wall).

No part of the plan addresses increasing revenue, and in fact it extends the tax cuts for the wealthy that were passed in December 2017.  It is by no means a balanced budget, and will absolutely, without question add to the national debt and deficit, both of which are already out of control, by trillions of dollars.  What happened, I would ask, to those fiscal hawks that put Obama down for eight years for not balancing the budget, for deficit spending?  Yo!  Republicans!  Can y’all hear me out there in la-la land???  This ‘man’ you all think so much of, that you’re willing to lose friends over, is going to cut Social Security … the money you have saved for your retirement since the first day of your first job.  Are you going to continue to sit on those fat, white posteriors and not even raise a stink?

But, there is good news.  And that is …

Trump’s budget proposal does not stand snowball’s chance in hell of passing Congress!  Not even a slight chance.  Even the republicans don’t like it!  It is naught but his pie-in-the-sky wish list.  However … what it does do is it speaks volumes about Mr. Trump’s priorities, and his lack of concern for the people who put him into office.  A president is elected, in theory, by the majority of the voters.  In Trump’s case, he was not elected by the majority at all, but was nearly three million votes short of it.  One might think that would make him work a lot harder to win over those of us who did not vote for him, but instead, he devotes seemingly every waking moment to finding ways to stab us in the back.

We’re tired of it.  Instead of working with Congress to attempt to develop a budget that benefits the nation and its people, he is submitting a proposal that his own advisors have told him will not fly.  He is working against the very people he swore to represent.  His priorities are a wall, his rich cronies, his Star Wars-type toy, a ‘Space Force’, and other useless crap, for lack of a better word.  Meanwhile, the poor and middle class, the 99% of the nation, will suffer if he gets his way.  Those are his priorities, folks.  His budget proposal tells us exactly where we stand … out in the cold.

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26 thoughts on “DOA … Dead On Arrival”

  2. It’s the same in the UK. Both polarised sides have stopped talking in the middle and just randomly butting heads. Meanwhile the country drifts closer to the precipice. One of our better reporters lost it with a minister yesterday. He was so right. Saying that the country was split asunder, this was replicated in parliament and in the cabinet- no one had any idea what was going on and the PM continues on her path of just trying to protect her position, it’s an utter shambles.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yes, I’ve been reading about it all. I gather they are hoping now for an extension, but as one commentator observed, if they couldn’t do it in two and a half years, what difference is another three months likely to make? But, y’know … I’m not so sure Ms. May should take all the blame, for it seems to me there are some stubborn ones in Parliament who aren’t willing to bend an inch. And, the EU hasn’t been exactly fair, either. What a mess. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Yes, it’s a shame he doesn’t have the same level of support as the other candidates. He seems trustworthy, a man of integrity. I do like what he stands for, but not enough to challenge the orange blowhard. Sadly I can’t say with any degree of confidence, at this point, if there’s a definitive Democratic candidate we can point to as our leader. I’m inclined to go with Bernie, but that’s my wishful thinking. It’s weird, not a single one stands out, they all seem to share the same platform and talking points… as covered by TokyoSand’s 7 issues guide series.

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  4. Dear Jill,

    President Trum’s budget defines the GOP version of capitalism as a huuuuge tax cuts bill that blesses the wealthy with a minimum of $6 trillion dollars over 10 years by making the rest of us pay for it over 10 years. But to pay for this boondoggle for the rich, he has to figure out how to increase tax revenues/ or savings from government programs funded with tax dollars that benefit the middle / poor folks to the tune of $4.5 trillion dollars over 10 years. That’s before the GOP try to get more tax revenues/ or savings to make up in part, for the $1.5 trillion dollars that was added to US deficit over 10 years to pay for the 2017 GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs bill. Remember that they originally tried to kill ACA to have the monies to pay for their tax cuts and that they were only 1 vote shy of succeeding.

    I estimated that over 10 years that an average family will end up paying about $12,000 extra in taxis. Other experts are estimating $15,000.

    Hugs, Gronda

    Liked by 2 people

    • You are so right. First priority: take care of the wealthy and the corporations, for they are the campaign donors. Everything else falls somewhere below that, and after all, those pesky poor people, sick people, and old people are just a drain on society anyway … they don’t contribute to the greater good, so nobody will even miss them when they die because they cannot afford their medicine, or cannot buy food. Sigh.

      Liked by 1 person

  6. And yet, the folks in red states who love Trump and depend on things like Medicaid, SSDI, and SNAP to live, will STILL gladly worship him and vote for him. That’s quite a power the GOP has, isn’t it? They continually get people to vote against their own best interests. Trump is a master at it. Lordy be, but do I friggin’ HATE him! No, this budget will not pass, but it sure does show us the black, vile cesspool that exists in Trump’s chest in place of a beating human heart.

    Liked by 4 people

    • I know … I don’t understand it either, but apparently getting rid of immigrants, abortion, and turning the nation into a “Christian” nation are more important to them than anything else. I long ago said that when his policies started hitting his supporters in their own pocketbooks, they would come around, but I was obviously wrong.

      Liked by 2 people

  8. Idiot politicians are good at spending our money. Mr. Trump seems more profligate than most.
    Anyhow, here in England we have our own worries. Our idiot politicians are effing up Brxit.
    It’s a grand life if you don’t weaken ❤❤❤

    Liked by 3 people

    • Quite true, and up until now he’s been able to bully his way through and get pretty much everything he wanted. I wonder what sort of fit he will throw, how much damage he will do, when he gets basically nothing in his proposal.

      Yes, you certainly do have your own worries and yours are as serious, as potentially devastating as ours. I don’t write about it, but have been trying to stay on top of the Brexit fiasco. Fingers crossed for you guys. Hugs, Jack … ❤

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  9. He is setting the stage for negotiating, Jill. He is asking for the world, and hoping to settle for one corner of it, the corner that borders Mexico! Anything he gets beyond that is gravy, in his pocket.
    Yes, he asked for other things he wants, EPA and DOE cuts, cutting social programs, etc. but he is willing to cut his asks by a good 75%, in exchange for his wall. This I am sure of. Nothing else has worked yet.
    But watch out if he still doesn’t get it…

    Liked by 4 people

    • Oh, I dunno … he has a jumbo dose of narcissism and it’s just possible he’s expecting to be able to bully his way to getting most of what he wants. Look how unmoving he’s been about his bloomin’ wall! Is he willing to shut the government down again to get his ‘budget’? I’m betting yes.

      Liked by 1 person

        • Well, last week the House passed a resolution to repeal his state of emergency. Today, the Senate also passed the resolution. However, he has said he will veto it, and neither the House nor the Senate have enough votes for the 2/3 majority to override his veto. Next step is the lawsuits that are pending to stop his declaration, and it is said that the resolution passed in Congress will help decide those. So, no definitive answer yet, but it was good to see some … I think it was 16 or 18 … republican senators vote against Trump’s wishes for a change.

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