Bush Administration Uses Titanium MasterCard

Here's the new definition of "fiscal conservative:" Those who lard record amounts of pork into an Omnibus Spending Bill. The Senate version of the bill appropriates $820 Billion dollars, the House comes in at "only" $328 Billion, although the House version is the "discretionary" component of the legislation.

The Sacramento Bee has more information: apparently the bill has already gone to conference, and the almost $500 billion dollar difference is mostly Medicare and Social Security.

Get a state-by-state breakdown here, although I'm linking only to the main page--you should be able to navigate on your own to the breakdowns, which are .pdf files.

Taxpayers for Common Sense (link is above) identify upwards of $11 Billion as nothing more than sop for a number of so-called budget disciplinarians, which gives a real indication of just where they actually stand: belt-tightening is for "other" people.

And the "other" people will soon be increased by roughly 8 million, as a rider attached will allow employers to limit overtime pay for certain "white-collar" employees--congratulations! You're qualified to add hours to your work week--for the same salary!

By the way--regarding government spending: As anyone who reads this is aware, I'm not exactly a libertarian. In that respect, I rarely knock any government program, even a $50 million dollar indoor rain forest in Iowa (hey, give the good people of Iowa a TREE to look at, for chrissakes). But at a certain point there has to be a consideration of how these things will be funded. My attitude is that rich people, i.e., those making more than, say $200,000 a year (like the president) should be required to fork some of the money over. Sure, let 'em deduct stuff--the kids, the mortgage, the IRA, the 401K, whatever--but if, in the end, you've still got a pile of money, too goddamned bad. You have to pay a little for your benefit (who the hell protects your property anyway?), and the benefit of society.

And, no, I don't believe in taking it all--but I think it's right to demand some.

But the Bush attitude is: why pay for government when you can charge it? Let the kids or the grandkids pick up the tab. You can't say we'll leave them with nothing--we'll leave them with less than nothing...

Enjoy your future--hey, the good news is that the old Soviet Union proved that, barring illness, humans can function more or less normally on four hours of sleep a night...