Obama's Budget Has $1.75 Trillion Shortfall: He Should Balance the Budget By Cutting $1.75 Trillion in Spending

President Obama's budget spends more than it takes in by $1.75 trillion. He shouldn't stand for that and cut at least $1.8 trillion out of his spending proposals.

Yes, that's trillion with a "t." He can start by cutting out the big bailouts and let the system self-adjust, as painful as it will be. All they have to do is protect the value of the U.S. currency, as is Constitutionally required. That will leave him about $800 billion to cut in spending.

He should make these cuts now, and inject the system with a bit of self-discipline, which will help us more in the long run, rather than loaning billions to companies that will fail, unless they learn how to take in more than they spend.

But the socialists won't allow that to happen. They'll keep throwing other people's money at the problem until we are teetering on the brink. How many more problems are they going to create in trying to solve the current ones?

Michigan Government Shuts Down, Then Opens for Business After Budget Deal Reached

Michigan shut down for a few hours early on Monday morning before a budget deal was reached at around 4am this morning.

It's about time!

Under the deal, the income tax will be increased, and some services will be required to charge a 6% state sales tax.

Now, then, I think that every member of the state house and senate should not run for re-election. Their utter stupidity and failure to communicate brought us to the brink of not having a government running the day-to-day operations of the state. Posturing for brownie points for MONTHS, blaming the other side, accepting no blame for their own actions--it's a political problem that requires action.

They should redeem themselves by not running for office again. The current officeholders are unworthy of the authority that the voters have bestowed on them. This should have been agreed to weeks or months ago, not four hours into a SHUTDOWN OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT.

Shame on ALL OF THEM!

Governor Granholm Issues Layoff Notices to 35,000 State Workers: State Shutdown as of Monday at 12:01AM

Our elected state government in Lansing is failing to come to agreement on Michigan's 2007-2008 budget, and Governor Granholm has begun to take steps to shut down the state government. Under Michigan's constitution, the state cannot spend one cent unless a balanced budget is in place.

The state isn't running out of money; it simply will not have the authority to spend anything.

Democrats and Republicans each control one house in the state legislature and they've adopted contradicting bills on what to tax, and what to cut in order to get rid of a forecasted $1.8 billion shortfall.

Once this crisis is resolved, I think the voters of Michigan need new leadership in the state legislature. This is going to be quite embarrassing if the government needs to shut down. John Schneider over at the Lansing State Journal called this situation a "slow motion train wreck" and he's absolutely right.

Editorials in many Michigan newspapers are calling for this stupidity to end and for both sides to compromise. I agree. These people need to get off their fat lazy asses and MOVE IT!

You have two friggin' hours!

Government About to Hit Debt Limit Again; Bush Administration to Ask for an Additional $950 Billion on Credit Limit

Here we go again with the debt limit. Not content with the $9 trillion plus debt ceiling, the Bush Administration requested that Congress extend the ceiling by an additional $950 billion.

That's quite ENOUGH!

This government needs to make more than it spends and lower it's debt load to a more manageable level before it's too late. $10 trillion is too much debt. It must spend our taxpayer money much more conservatively.

The trade deficit is of particular concern; as is the devaluation of the U.S. dollar against other major world currencies. I do think the brakes should be put on free trade agreements until the damage from NAFTA and CAFTA are fully assessed. Whoever said that the North American Free Trade Agreement would create a sucking sound from south of our border has definitely been proven correct.

But of more concern is this government's willingness to outspend how much it makes. Income must always exceed expenses. I think that the next President is going to have to make major cuts across the board in order to get the country's budget back into order.

And Congress is going to have to stop earmarking as they're contributing more than their fair share to the debt load with their peanut storage facilities and bridges to nowhere. The days of blank checks from the government for useless projects must become a thing of the past if the country's financial situation is to recover quickly from the financial disaster we're in.

Michigan Government STILL Without a Budget; 10 Days to Government Shutdown

I think serious attention needs to be paid to what's happening with our Michigan government and how it's being run.

They've been working on a budget for eight months, and they've wasted time on unnecessary political posturing, delays, and outright refusal to budge on their established positions to score points on the other side.

In ten more days, this government WILL shut down if they don't have their act together and a balanced budget. Do we need to chain the state senators and representatives to their desks and lock the doors to get these people to move, or what?

Michigan is Without a Budget and Less Than Three Weeks Away from a Government Shutdown: They Need to Get Moving

There's a complicated fight going on in Lansing over the state budget, and there's less than three weeks before Michigan's government runs out of money and a shutdown of the state occurs.

The battle looks like this:

Governor Granholm vs. the Republicans
Democrats vs. Republicans and vice versa in both houses
House vs. Senate

The first two fights mentioned above were expected; the third popped up unexpectedly. The state senate is controlled by the GOP; the state house is under control of the Democrats. Each house is challenging the other to take action first to cut out a $1.8 billion budget shortfall for next year.

They've been at it for seven months now.

Enough of the posturing, people. Fix the budget, NOW.

Government Should Take Steps to Reduce Heavy Debt Load: $9 Trillion and Rising

The Bush Administration's rationale for debt spending during wartime is unnecessary and unwise. The price tag that came along with this decision is a staggering $9 trillion. That's too much for any one nation to carry.

Congressional pork barrel projects aren't helping either. They are a percentage of the overall budget, but they are adding more to the problem and not to the solution, especially since the government is already overspending. Congress adds insult to injury every time they use federal money to pay for peanut storage in their home states. Or other stupid earmarks.

A $9 trillion debt is the pinnacle of absurdity.

That debt should be paid down 10% every four years until it's a fraction of the federal budget, with no new additions to the debt. Every Administration--starting with the new one that will take office in January 2009--until the debt is nearly retired around the year 2058.

If the government can't fit a program into a balanced budget, then the program should be postponed or canceled.

The military does this all the time. If a weapons system is no longer cost-effective, or is too expensive to build, or is obsolete, they put it out to pasture. The rest of the government should be made to do the same thing.

I think that the government should have the ability to exceed it's budget, but that ability should be used ONLY in times of dire national emergencies, not in everyday situations, as the nation currently is. Yes, the country is at war, but not total war as it was during World War II.

Radical changes need to be made in Washington, and soon. Otherwise, the debt will get so huge that we'll never be able to pay it down.