Campaigner Blasts Climate-Denying 'Arsonists' as Maui Fires Kill at Least 36

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. In a rational budget, we would not have both "slop" and a "deficit"

That 2 Trillion figure sounds more like Global military spending:
TRENDS IN WORLD MILITARY EXPENDITURE, 2022

World military expenditure rose by 3.7 per cent in real terms in 2022, to reach a record high of $2240 billion. …

United States 877 …

(In English, “Trillion” has different meanings depending on which country you’re in.)



The Federal Budget in Fiscal Year 2022: An Infographic


The difference between “outlays” and “revenues” is the deficit (or, if “revenues” exceed “outlays” the “surplus.”)

Just like our Republican friends, I would like to cut the deficit. We can either raise “revenues” or cut “outlays” or both. Every presidential candidate promises to balance the budget, and to eliminate “waste.” If there's a lot of "slop" in the budget, that should be easy. (Right?) Unfortunately, Joe Biden had a hand in cutting a lot of “waste” when he was Vice President.

As I said, you and I may have departments we would like to see cut. I'm guessing that you would not want to cut social programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security — that sort of thing.) They make up most of the “mandatory spending.” That rules out most of the budget.

You and I might think that the “Defense Budget” seems like a likely source. — About 751 Billion in "Discretionary Spending." — Let’s just pause on that one. If we eliminate all military spending (apart from veteran's benefits which are under mandatory spending) we’d only cut the deficit in half! Interest on the national debt (at roughly 500 Billion) equals about two thirds of the military budget!

I’m not saying we don’t spend a lot on “Defense” I’m saying servicing our national debt is eating us alive, and every year we pile more deficit spending onto the debt, and, yes, I blame most of the debt on George W. Bush and Donald J. Trump, but it doesn’t matter much now who gets the blame. It’s our debt now…

How much money will we need to cover the “Climate Emergency?” OMB tried to estimate that:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ap_21_climate_risk_fy2023.pdf

…

Identifiable Costs

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) assessments found that the Federal Government could spend between an additional $25 billion to $128 billion annually due to just six climate-related financial risks included in this report—disaster relief, flood insurance, crop insurance, healthcare expenditures, wildland fire suppression spending, and flood risk at Federal facilities – and considering only a limited scope of total potential damages to those programs. …

OK, that's essentially an admission that even the $128 billion high end estimate is low.

Non-“Defense” discretionary spending was “goosed” by COVID-19. For a few years prior, it was running "neck and neck" with the “Defense” budget. Perhaps the amount of “emergency” spending we have spent fighting COVID-19 would cover it, but that’s all deficit spending, and (unlike COVID) we’re not expecting it to be temporary. — When do you anticipate this “emergency” spending will end? (How long will it take us to “fix the climate?”) I think we can only expect the need to increase each year.


I don’t think we can find it by trimming fat from line items.