Today is Friday, November 18, 2005….
….and as I was preparing to write my article for today, I stumbled across something by Thomas Sowell that killed my article. Absolutely destroyed my original idea– its so much better than anything I could put forward with my under-caffinated brain: elementary economics as gravity.
However, this is not a day without newsworthy events; last evening, the House of Representatives took a step in the Right direction, and acted boldly to show a willingness to control spending that has been notably and lamentably absent on Capitol Hill for quite some time. For the first time in a decade, a compromise on spending bill that had been negotiated between the House and Senate
Early yesterday, a 224-209 vote against a $602 billion spending bill for health, education and labor programs derailed the Republican leaders attempts to complete work on freezing many agency budgets through next September.
For the first time in a decade, a compromise on spending bill that had been negotiated between the House and Senate was rejected by the rank and file of the Republican party.
These draconian cuts? Putting actual limits on unchecked, uncapped spending increases. No one is taking food out of the mouths of babies. Nobody is being tossed out on the street because a dollar given to them today isn’t going to be there tomorrow. These are merely caps on growth of existing spending, and setting eligibility requirements for future federal dependants.
Overall budget compromises will have to be forthcoming from the joint committees; Republican budgetmakers aim to shave $50 billion dollars off of the projected deficit figures for the rest of the decade. Its the first good news in budgetary control that has been seen in quite some time, in an era where the Federal Government seems to have lost a sense of who’s money they are spending- yours.
Paired with economic growth, honest appraisal of budgetary committments and an inclination to check spending are the best medicine for balancing the budget.